Azure Keyblades: Key of Light
by Atlas Ultima
Summary: Out of one place and into another, Ragna now finds himself helping a new keyblade wielder save the worlds in the Realm of Light. He isn't alone on this adventure as they travel through the worlds and find out the source of the darkness that is consuming the stars. (Sequel to Distorted Dreams)
1. Prologue: Separate Meetings

**Here we go, people! The sequel is here, ready to go! So, I know some people are curious as to how I'm gonna be doing this since we have some extra characters along for the ride. Well, I got ya covered, don't worry. Anyways, this is where things start getting a bit off the beaten path as I'm combining the canon material with some things I think would have been cool in the actual series. I'll just be sure to not go crazy with that, so without further ado, let's begin!**

 **Prologue: Separate Meetings**

"Well, this is quite the turn of events." The traveler said to himself as he watched what just happened in the blue sky above. He was standing currently in his own world, on top of the hill with the tree as he lightly scratched his chin.

"A simple transfer of a soul into another universe can change the course of its history almost entirely. Interesting..." Suddenly, he felt an energy spike and moved the vision to the source. On another world in that universe, a new face appears and a rather young one at that. However, the way he entered wasn't like Ragna's.

"An unnatural transfer? Better make sure the situation doesn't get unstable." The traveler equipped his cloak and took off in a portal he summoned, closing soon after.

* * *

Sora opens his eyes a bit, but his vision was blurry. He sees a different place and... a yellow dog?

"What a weird dream..."

He closes his eyes again, but got jolted awake by a sudden slam against the chest. His vision regained itself and it still showed the yellow dog.

"This isn't a dream!" He seems to be in a small alleyway as well. He stood up to his feet, looking in awe of where he is now.

"Oh, boy..." He then looks at the dog, "Hey, do you know where we are?"

The dog seem to have noticed something and ran off, "Wait!"

With no other options, he went after the dog and as soon as he turned the corner, he finds himself in a plaza with various shops and people walking around. He walks down the steps as he looks on.

"No way... this means that-" He then realized the situation, "I'm in another world!"

"Oh? Are you new?"

Sora turns to where the voice came from, seeing a man who is wearing average clothing and is quite chubby.

"Uh yes, sir." Sora simply answered.

"I see. Don't worry, we get new people every once in a while. The world you're in is called Traverse Town." The man briefly explained.

"Traverse Town..." Sora mumbled to himself before the man puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Not many of us are lucky when our world falls. Best to carry on with what you can do from here on out."

Sora thought on his words for a bit, remembering what he lost in his world. Most of his friends, family, even neighbors he barely knew. However, he survived and now...

"I have to find my friends, I know they're out there somewhere." Sora told himself, reassuring his new goal now.

"If that's the case, best to prepare for your journey. Check out the shops for items and equipment you need." The man agreed.

"OK. Thank you!" Sora said, climbing back up the steps to the nearest shop, which was the accessory shop.

He enters and looks around, seeing a fireplace and a simple lounging area in the corner. The other side has a green counter with a display case of a beautiful crystal and behind it was a man.

He had blue eyes, blonde hair with goggles and a facial stubble, holding a small toothpick in his mouth along with an outfit that comprised with a white shirt, blue pants, brown gloves and black shoes. He had a tool belt on his waist and was looking at a list of materials.

"Uh, excuse me." Sora said, getting the man's attention.

He quickly turned his head at the sudden voice, "Hey there, how can I-" He then noticed Sora, making him have an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, just a kid." Sora was annoyed at his comment, "I ain't no kid Gramps, the name's Sora."

"I ain't no gramps, the name's Cid!" The man, now known as Cid, retorted. "Anyways, do you need something, Sora?"

"Well-" Sora cut himself off as he thinks about what to ask. Next thing he knew, he remembered about the others. He must have been in some serious shock to just realize that. However, it gave him a question.

"Have you seen a man in a red coat, a woman with blue hair, or maybe another man with armor on his left arm?" Sora asked.

Cid thinks about it for a moment before answering, "Sorry, haven't seen them. There are other districts for them to show up in, due to how big the town is."

Sora thought about the possibility of Riku and Kairi also being here as well, maybe even with the others.

"All right, thanks." Sora said as he started to leave.

"Be careful, kid!" Cid called out as Sora exited.

* * *

"So you found him in the alleyway?"

The voice he heard made Ragna stir a bit, his vision blurry as he slightly opened his eyes.

"Yeah, with his clothes torn up rather badly. And his right arm-"

Ragna instantly opened his eyes wide, looking around in his blurry vision in a red room. The decorations were rather nice and matched the theme it was going for, but he wasn't awake to admire. He looks to his left and sees two females sitting at a small table, one younger than the other.

The older one had emerald green eyes, brown hair tied in a braided ponytail with a large pink ribbon, a long pink dress with a metal bracelet on each wrist and brown boots.

The younger one had violet eyes, black hair with a white headband, a green sleeveless turtleneck jumper that bares her stomach, tan shorts, orange fingerless gloves with black arm warmers, and orange sneakers.

It was quiet as the two noticed Ragna was awake, having a brief staredown before he looks at his clothes. Besides missing his red coat, the rest of his attire looks repaired completely.

"Where's my coat?" Ragna asked, breaking the silence.

"Over there." The woman answered, pointing at a coat hanger stand in the corner that hung the coat, which was also repaired.

"We found you in rather bad shape, so we took ya into the hotel for safety." The girl mentions, getting up and walking over to the bed.

"Thanks, I was actually planning for repairs on these." Ragna then stretched a bit, "And you two are..."

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie! And she's Aerith." The girl, named Yuffie, answered. She gestured to the woman, named Aerith, who waved at Ragna.

"Nice to meet you. Ragna." He then scooted to the edge and got up on his feet, "Was there anyone else with me?"

"Nope, just you. Don't worry though, if you got here, they may be here as well." Yuffie reassured.

Ragna nods in agreement, "I hope you're right." He then looks around for his sword as Aerith spoke, "We have friends throughout the town, they may have seen them."

"In that case, tell them to look for a kid with spiky hair, a woman with blue hair, and a man with armor on his left arm." He informed the two.

"Got it! I'll look for Leon!" Yuffie briefly saluted before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"I would escort you around, but I need to find the King's friends." Aerith said as she got up, "I only showed up when Yuffie told me about you and repaired your clothes."

"Really?" Ragna finds the sword on the bedside and picks it up, "Don't look like much of a seamstress."

"Magic can do more than just attacks and healing." Aerith pointed out.

"Impressive. Thanks, by the way." Ragna quickly said as he puts on his coat and takes his sword, putting it on his belt.

He then walks out the door that lead to the back of the hotel and climbed up to the roof.

* * *

Aqua wakes up to find herself in a rather fancy looking piano room, laying on a couch as she sits up.

"Where am I?" She wondered.

"In the Dalmatians' House." She looks over to the door across the room and sees a man walking over.

The man had long unruly brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a black short sleeved bomber jacket that has a fur rim collar with a red emblem that resembles a lion on the sleeves worn over a white v-neck shirt, black pants with a black belt that has a silver buckle, black gloves and black magnum combat shoes. He also is wearing a silver chain necklace with the lion head like on the sleeves and has a scar across the face.

"A dog house?" She questioned.

"You could say that." The man then walked over and sat down in a chair. "I found you outside, so I took you in."

"Thank you. My name is Aqua." She introduced herself.

"Leon." The man simply said in response.

Suddenly, two dalmatian dogs walked over, the male laid his head on Leon's lap and the female doing the same with Aqua.

Leon petted the dog's head as he spoke, "This is Pongo and that's Perdita."

"Are they yours?" Aqua asked.

"No, I'm just taking care of them when they lost their world... and their puppies." Leon answered.

"Oh no..." She muttered.

"I searched the town high and low many times, yet I made no progress. However, I have a feeling they just ended up somewhere else." He explained.

Aqua looked at the dogs, their faces deeply saddened at their losses. She petted Perdita's head as she spoke, "I may not know right now, but I'll find them. I know the feeling of having something taken away, so if they have ended up somewhere else, I'll bring them back."

Her words stunned Leon and have the dogs wag their tails in happiness. After a moment of silence, Leon smirked.

"You know, you say that... and I believe you. There are 99 in total, so good luck."

 _"9-99!?"_ Aqua simply had a sweat drop in surprise for her reaction as she thought that to herself.

"Sorry, but I have a little mission that I needed to do. Got to get back to it." Leon mentioned as he got up, walking over to the double doors.

Once he left, the dogs walked over and sat down next to Aqua. She smiles at this and pets their heads before a puff of smoke appears in the middle of a room. A young girl is revealed as it faded, looking around before seeing Aqua.

"Oh, hi there. Have you seen a man with brown hair, black clothing, scar on his face?" The girl asked.

"You mean Leon? You just missed him." Aqua answered.

"Great... this just got longer. Thanks any-" She then cut herself off, "Wait... you're one of his friends!"

"Who?" Aqua was confused by her statement.

"Yeah, the one with blue hair. Yet, he forgot to mention your names." She said to herself.

"Excuse me, what are you saying?" Aqua asked.

"Oh, your friend Ragna told us about you guys, so we're helping out finding ya." The girl explained.

"Ragna, he's here!?" Aqua stood up as she asked this.

"Yeah, he was at the hotel nearby, but I think he left by now." The girl answered.

"Then maybe the others are here as well." Aqua said to herself.

"That's for us to find out! Oh, name's Yuffie." The girl introduced herself.

"Oh, I'm Aqua."

"Nice to meet ya! Now, two to go!"

* * *

"Wake up already, young man!"

Terra opens his eyes and finds himself getting poked by something, gently pushing it away. "Five more minutes..."

"Youth nowadays, lazy I say." The voice responded with and suddenly, a jolt of electricity shocked Terra awake.

"All right, all right, I'm up!"

"Good, you were out for some time now. Especially out in the open like this." The man that was speaking to Terra was an elder man that had white hair with a long beard to match, a blue pointy hat and a blue robe. He wore a pair of round glasses, held a wand in his right hand and a travel bag in his left.

"I see. Thank you, your Elder-" Terra cuts himself off as he recognizes the man. "Wait, you're Merlin. The one with the mysterious book."

"Book?... Oh, you're the young man that gave me that! Terra, correct?" Merlin remembered.

"Yes. It's been awhile."

"You're telling me. It's been years since then."

"Years..." Terra repeated to himself before getting up to his feet.

"What brings you here, Terra?" Merlin asked.

"Me and my friends were trying to prevent a world from falling, but failed. I hope the others made it somewhere safe." Terra answered.

"I'm sure they have. Let us go to my house, I know a few people that can help us." The two then entered through a fire seal door nearby with the door closing behind them.

* * *

Unfortunately, this happens as soon as Sora enters the district. As he looks around, it was rather empty with few sounds being heard. He walks over to the doors leading back to where he was, but finds it's locked. He scratches his head and looks around to see a rather big keyhole in the wall to his right. Putting two and two together, he summons his keyblade and puts it in, unlocking the doors.

He smirks and pulls the key out before seeing at the corner of his eye, a moving shadow. He turns towards it, seeing a familiar creature from before as more and more showed up.

"Those are from my island! They're here too!?" Sora said in shock.

As the shadows forms together, they combined into one big shadow that shaped itself into a rather disturbing beast, sharp fangs and unnatural movement as it crawled out of the ground. Sora was creeped out by this, but held his ground as the form took shape. Suddenly, a voice yelled out from above.

"Sora!" Dropping out of the sky, Ragna landed in front of him.

"Ragna!" Sora smiled at the fact someone else got here as well.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, I just looking for you guys."

"Same here. But right now, we take care of this."

"Oh, right."

The two changed their attention at the beast, which was actually just standing there as the two spoke. However when they looked back at it, it seemed to jump into the ground... and disappear?

"OK... guess they're smarter than taking us on." Ragna pointed out.

"Why's that?" Sora asked.

"Well, it might have been targeting just you, then when I showed up, it knew it couldn't fight us by itself. May have gone for reinforcements."

"Then we better go." Sora then opens the doors behind him with Ragna following, the doors closing as they entered the First District.

"Any luck with the others?" Ragna asked.

"Sadly, no. You're the only one I've seen, I looked everywhere else." Sora answered.

The two then noticed how quiet it was as the people were gone in the plaza. Only the sound of another voice caught their attention.

"Those creatures will hunt you.." They turned their heads to a man walking down the stairs as he continued, "And they'll always come as long as that key is in your possession."

Ragna was on guard as Sora looks at the keyblade in his hand. He then looks back at the man, "You mean the keyblade?"

"That's right... but I'll never know why a kid like you is wielding it." The man commented as he reached the bottom.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ragna questioned.

"I'll answer that when you answer all of my questions. First, let's see that keyblade." The man simply answered as he started to walk over.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" Sora was now on guard as Ragna pulled out his sword.

The man stopped in his tracks, "...All right. Have it your way." He then pulled out a rather interesting weapon that looked like a hybrid of a sword and a revolver.

The three had a small standoff before Sora and Ragna made the first attack.

 **And done! Sorry if it was a bit confusing, but I wanted to establish where they landed, who they met, and what they're doing. Wanted to have them separated to have more interactions with more characters.**

 **Now a few things I did that you may have noticed:**

 **1\. I have the Final Fantasy characters looking like a mix of their original designs and the Kingdom Hearts ones. Another thing is trying to have more of their original personality shown, but...**

 **I'll admit right now, the only Final Fantasy games I've played was some of X and a little bit of VII. So, I only know their personalities from Kingdom Hearts, but I want to have more of their original traits showing alongside that.**

 **2\. Also, the landing places are as follows:**

 **Sora - Where he landed in the games**

 **Ragna - The alleyway**

 **Aqua - The Second District**

 **Terra - The Third District**

 **But, their perspectives start after Sora wakes up:**

 **Ragna - The Red Room in the Hotel**

 **Aqua - The Dalmatians' House**

 **Terra - Near the fire door that leads to Merlin's house**

 **3\. Another reason as to why they were separated is actually to have Ragna and Leon fight in the story without it being forced or just a friendly match. Sora was just a last minute addition, but it will be a handicap match. I know you will mention Olympus, but that doesn't really make sense in the story anyways.**

 **4\. I noticed a lack of heartless shown, so I decided to show a cameo of one I came up with. More will show up later, don't worry.**

 **5\. Finally motivated to finish as at the time this will be posted, it's my birthday! So I figured, second time's the charm!**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 1: Heart of a Lion

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Key of Light! Now, let us see what we got:**

 **Spartastic 4: Glad it wasn't, I wanted to keep everything nice and neat. I really want more interactions to open up more aspects for character development, as well as some interesting conversations. I work hard to make fights cool and fluid, so thanks for the support there. Don't worry, the character moments don't stop here.**

 **Lightkirinhuruname: I already got it, as this is the proof.**

 **Haxorus Knight: OK, I'm just gonna say it flat out, this series isn't a romance type deal. I want to give a great story with excellent action... BUT, I may allude to pairings that make the most sense in the canon series and maybe some here, but that's it.**

 **BlitzNeutral69: Thanks. Please refer to previous sentence.**

 **So, let's continue!**

 **Chapter 1: Heart of a Lion**

"You also lost your world too?"

Terra asks this as him and Merlin enters his house. Merlin puts down his bag as he answered, "That's right. We tried our best, but had no choice other than escape."

Terra clenched his fists at this. In his absence, more worlds fell as the darkness spread. No doubt his corrupted self had a role in causing it.

"However, I know that with people like you here, this chaos will end. But first, we need to find your friends." Merlin reassured.

Terra nodded in agreement, "Right."

"Just let me unpack and we'll get started." Merlin then performed a spell that opened the bag, tiny furniture floated out and grew bigger as they spun around in a circle. It didn't take long before the place was decorated completely. Terra looked around as Merlin seems to be annoyed at something.

"Confound it, I know I'm missing something." He muttered to himself as he stroked his beard.

"What's wrong?" Terra asked as he noticed Merlin.

"Give me a moment, it must be here somewhere."

Terra watched as Merlin opened the drawers and cabinets, moving stuff out and floating in the air until he found what he was looking for.

"Here we are! Now, this is just a feeling I had, but I believe this belongs to you." To Terra's shock, he was holding his Wayfinder!

"W-Where did you find this?" He asked, taking it as he does.

"I took a simple stroll one day and found it. I was curious as who the owner was, but I held on to it in case they ever appeared. Looks like my intuition was correct." Merlin explained as he returned the stuff he pulled out back to where they were.

Terra simply looked at the Wayfinder, having a good idea of where it was, dropped as he and Aqua fought Xehanort in Radiant Garden.

"Now, let us see here..." Merlin then opened a spellbook and conjured a magical cloud which then opened to show his friends like a projection.

Terra sees that Aqua was walking with a young girl dressed kinda like a ninja as Ragna and Sora are...

"Oh dear, what has Leon done to provoke them?" Merlin sighed as he said this.

"It must be a misunderstanding." Terra guessed, "Do you know where they are?"

"Those three are in the First District while Yuffie and your other friend is in the Third. Don't worry, a simple teleport will save time." Merlin answered.

He then conjured another spell, making him and Terra disappear in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Leon was on the defensive as Ragna rained down power blows, mostly dodging them and blocking a few before Sora jumps at him from behind. Leon simply performed a spin slash to catch them off balance, sending the two back. Ragna retaliated with a Dead Spike, the beast head rushing at Leon as he sees it in shock.

 _"Darkness!?"_ He thought as he quickly leaped to his left to dodge.

He then notices Sora spinning on one of the nearby poles and launches himself off with a spinning attack. He waits and swings at the right moment to reverse Sora's rotation, knocking him off balance and flying. As Sora lands, Ragna closes the distance with a Hell's Fang that Leon blocks. The force pushes him back a bit as Ragna follows it up, hitting Leon through the defense. As it does, Sora lands a strong swing against his back.

A bit ticked, Leon performed one of his specials, pushing Ragna off and does a complete spin almost instantly, Sora barely ducking and Ragna finding himself face to face with the blade's tip. Leon then pulled the trigger, firing off an explosive round that sent Ragna flying into a pillar.

Sora got to his feet and swung at Leon in anger, only for Leon to sidestep it. He swings again and again, Leon blocked and deflected each time before going on the offense. Sora now finds himself in trouble as he couldn't really handle all of Leon's swings, barely keeping up to avoid severe damage. Leon then launched a quick flurry of thrusts as Sora tried to reduce the damage, having no way to dodge fast enough. He then got sent flying once more by the finish, rolling on the ground before stopping on his knees.

"Guess that gun part isn't just for show." Leon looked at where Ragna was, seeing a small puff of smoke blow away on his face as he got up.

"You're tougher than you look." Leon commented, "But why do you use darkness?"

"This again..." Ragna muttered before answering, "Just used to it, really."

Leon narrowed his eyes at that, knowing there is more to it. He then lunged at Ragna to deliver a horizontal slash, only for Ragna to roll out of the way. Leon didn't stop, now firing fireballs at Ragna from a distance. Ragna simply dodged them as he tried to close the gap, even slicing the last three before leaping at Leon. The blades clashed once more, the two showing impressive speed as each slash collided.

The two then knocked themselves away, Leon quickly casting a Thunder spell that sent a vertical wave of purple bolts that caught Ragna off guard and pulled him in. Leon followed up with a savage string of slashes that landed successfully, even ending with a trigger finisher that dealt more damage. During that, Ragna was actually paralyzed a bit before the finish sent him flying. He landed on the ground and rolled back up to his feet, channeling darkness into his arm before doing Dead Spike again.

Seen this attack before, Leon decides to surprise him by channeling light energy into his blade and performing a rising slash to send him into the air. Unfortunately, he didn't expect Ragna to actually jump at him as well, but also have his sword transformed into a scythe. The scythe swung in full force, damaging Leon and sending him back down into the ground. Ragna landed as Leon got back on his feet, a bit dazed from the attack but held his ground. With scythe in hand, Ragna swung at him to keep distance as Leon blocked the attacks. He then stepped closer and blocked again, retaliating by pushing the scythe off and swung as Ragna transformed the scythe back to sword form to clash blades once again.

"That's enough, Leon!"

"Stop, Ragna!"

The two then heard familiar voices as Yuffie, Merlin, Terra and Aqua appeared near Sora, who has recovered from his wounds. The name Leon got Ragna's attention.

"You're Leon?" He asked.

"Yeah, and you're Ragna?" Leon responded with.

"Pretty much."

Suddenly, dark creatures jumped at the two as a group, only for the pair to quickly dispose of them. More of the creatures appeared and started to surround the others, most wearing a steel helmet and are more of a short humanoid.

"Heartless!" Yuffie called out, throwing her shuriken to take out a few.

"That's what they're called?" Sora questioned as he kept his guard up.

"Come, you two! I'll teleport us out!" Merlin ordered, which Ragna and Leon agreed to.

They took out any heartless that got close to them as Aqua performed a Blizzaga to disperse some of the swarm along with Terra firing a Dark Firaga. Besides Ragna and Sora, the others were surprised at three keyblade wielders in the same place. Before anyone can say anything however, a large heartless came down in between the duo and the group, patting its hand against its fat belly before charging at Leon.

"Out of the way!" Leon then charged energy into his blade and lunged at the big guy with a powerful thrust, not stopping in motion as it pushed the heartless until it disappeared. Leon stopped right in front of the others as Ragna caught up right after.

"Let's go!" Ragna said, Merlin responding with the teleport spell to get out of danger.

* * *

The group now finds themselves in a room at the Hotel, Sora moving to lay on the bed from exhaustion.

"OK, that was tense. Mind explaining what's going on here?" Ragna spoke up, sitting down on one of the chairs at the table.

"Yeah, I'm a bit confused from this." Terra scratched his head as he said this.

"All right, we can spare some time. Get comfortable." Leon said as he leaned against the wall.

After a bit of seat arrangment, the group listened intently as Leon started an explanation.

"You obviously know there are other worlds, connected by the lanes between them? Well, the lanes were supposed to be sealed to keep the worlds safe. The heartless now use these to travel to each world, consuming them one by one."

"And the survivors end up here, as we experienced." Ragna added.

"As far as we know, the key will be the one to stop the heartless." Leon continued, looking at Sora.

Sora then looked at the keyblade in his hand, then looked at Aqua and Terra. "What about them? They also have keyblades."

"I think that's just a lucky coincidence." Yuffie shrugged off.

"Either way, three keys are better than one. But, I think the problem is why the king only mentioned one." Merlin mentioned.

"Wait, the king? As in King Mickey?" Aqua questioned.

"Why, yes. Did you know him?"

"Yes. How is he? Is he here?"

"No. He has business to take care of as we handle the key hunt." Leon answered, "Though, he's doing fine last time we saw him."

"I see." Aqua simply said. She's glad at least Mickey is here to protect the worlds during their disappearance.

"Actually, I'm curious about something. What is the Keyblade?" Sora asked.

"We don't really know much about it, unless the guests have info for us." Leon answered, looking at Aqua and Terra. Terra decided to speak up this time.

"Well, we don't know that much from what you already knew. From our master, he said that the Keyblade is a sentient weapon that is attracted to the strength of a person's heart. With enough training, they can transform it for various uses. But, there are very rare cases of a person dual wielding keyblades."

"Like, two at once?" Ragna questioned.

"Yes, but they have to be skilled and powerful to use it effectively." Aqua answered.

"Fascinating..." Merlin commented as he stroked his beard.

"Either way, we have to save the worlds. But first, we need transportation unless we can go through space." Ragna pointed out.

"We used to be able to, but we don't have our armor anymore." Aqua mentioned.

"Don't worry, the king's friends got here using a gummi ship. Which reminds me, where is Aerith?" Yuffie said.

"She went looking for them, but should have been here by now. We better see if they're all right." Leon answered.

"Then in that case, we should get going. Terra, you and your friends can go and find the source of this swarm. It should cause the heartless to scatter for the time being." Merlin briefly explained.

"Got it." Terra agreed.

Leon, Yuffie and Merlin then teleported out of here as Sora and the others converse with each other.

"So, any clue of where the boss might be?" Aqua asked.

"Best bet, probably the Third District." Ragna guessed.

"Yeah, that shadow from earlier might have brought them here." Sora agreed.

Suddenly, a soldier heartless appeared in the room, catching their attention.

"Back off!" Ragna then actually kicked the heartless out the window, shattering the glass as it fell to the ground.

"OK, that's one way." Aqua commented as Ragna then hopped out the window with the others following close behind.

 **And done! So, there's more to go over.**

 **1\. Vs. Leon - Force Your Way (FF8) (Nice track for a battle theme, either version is your choice.)**

 **2\. As you saw in the fight, I gave Leon a few new tricks. That's because I decided to give some Final Fantasy characters their Dissidia movesets. However, it doesn't mean this is their Dissidia counterparts, just that I like a clear set of skills for characters when they fight.**

 **Challenge: Guess what moves Leon used in this fight, some are more obvious than others.**

 **3\. Two of the changes I did with the canon material is included. For more clarity:**

 **A. The Keyblade is sentient that chooses a wielder by the strength of their heart. With training, they can transform it for uses in battle and even traveling. Those with powerful hearts and skills can actually dual wield, but it's extremely rare as of current events.**

 **B. The Lanes Between has a special seal that protects the worlds and keeps them secret from each other. However, due to them being unlocked for years, the darkness used them to travel to countless worlds, consuming them one by one.**

 **C. As for inheritance, only the Master Keeper and Xehanort's keyblade can be passed down. Others are either from a realm exclusively (Ex. Kingdom Key from the Realm of Light) or one that suits the wielder. As for the keychains, I think that's just for gameplay purposes, not story.**

 **More changes will be explained later in the story, so yeah. Feel free to give me your thoughts and whether or not you like them. Until next time, see ya next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 2: More Questions to Answer

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back, but first:**

 **Azure Legacy: Thanks. The two now have respect for each other after the fight, so yeah.**

 **Spartastic 4: I was wondering what felt a bit off, so I'll be sure to try that. Either way, thanks.**

 **Guest: Thank you, point still stands.**

 **Now, let's continue!**

 **Chapter 2: More Questions to Answer**

Aerith walks in the backstreets with a interesting duo of a talking dog and duck. The duck wore mainly blue traveling clothes as the dog also wore traveling clothes, colored green, black and brown respectively. The duck held a special magic staff and the dog held a special shield as the three looked around.

"Where did all those heartless come from?" The duck asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that there is a stronger one that's drawing them here." Aerith answered.

"Do you know where the boss is?" The dog asked.

"I'm not sure. Right now, we just need to find the others."

Suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared in front of them and her friends appeared.

"Hey." Leon greeted nonchalantly.

The duck and dog were surprised at this, but Aerith simply spoke in response.

"We were just talking about you guys. Where were you?" She asked.

"We found the key, or rather keys, and gave them the rundown." Yuffie answered.

"Wah!? THREE keys!?" The duck yelled out in disbelief.

"I thought there were only one key." The dog mentioned.

"Well, that's just it. It seemed the extra two was just a coincidence." Merlin added, "You two were sent by the king, correct?"

"Yes, they were. This is Donald and Goofy." Aerith answered, gesturing to who's who.

"Nice to meet you." Goofy greeted, which Donald simply waved.

"So, where are the others?" Aerith asked.

"We told them to find the boss while we find you. Now that we did, I guess we head back to them." Leon answered.

Merlin lets out a sigh, "You're draining me, you know."

"I figured." Leon then pulled out an Ether, "Here."

Leon then tossed it at Merlin, it dispersing over him to replenish magic.

"Much appreciated." One teleport spell later, they were gone.

* * *

Sora and the others enters the Third District, which was unnaturally quiet except for their footsteps.

"Be careful, this might be an ambush." Ragna warned.

They walked down the stairs as above them, Leon's group appeared on a balcony.

"They're around here... down below, most likely." Merlin said.

Donald and Goofy looks over and sees who they were talking about. Three of them they don't know, the fourth...

"Wait, isn't that the one who brought King Mickey back to the tower?" Goofy mentioned, pointing at Aqua.

"Yeah! But that was years ago." Donald said.

"You mean when we met... what was his name? Van? Von? V-" Goofy was suddenly cut off as Donald yelled, spotting a moving barrel with spider legs charging at them.

Leon and the others noticed the yell, but were caught off guard with an explosion, sending Donald and Goofy off the balcony into the sky.

The four down below heard screaming from above getting louder, looking up to see a duck and dog falling. Ragna, Aqua and Terra moved out of the way, but Sora was a bit slower as the two fell down upon him.

Terra was confused, Ragna scratched his head, but Aqua recognized who landed on Sora.

"You must be looking for us, correct?" She asked as the three helped the others up to their feet.

Donald dusted himself off as he simply answered, "Yes."

"But it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Goofy and this is Donald." Goofy greeted.

Ragna finished helping Sora to his feet as he responded, "Ragna. This is Sora."

"Hiya..." Sora said, still feeling the pain before Aqua used a Cure spell on him and turns to the duo. "I'm Aqua."

"And I'm Terra." Terra finished.

"Terra... Terra..." Goofy was repeating his name as it sounded familiar, but was interrupted when a loud rumble shook the area, pillars rising up to block any exits from their position.

"Get ready." Ragna said, the others summoning their weapons as a sudden howl was heard.

They looked around to then find the beast from before was standing above over the statue of two dogs, growling a bit before letting out a roar. The roar was echoed throughout the district for a bit before something fell from the sky, landing on the ground a few feet away from them.

The heartless was a set of disconnected armor colored a deep blue before it started floating up, forming a giant humanoid and was ready for battle.

Ragna looked back to see the beast was gone before focusing back on the fight.

"Aim for the limbs, we can take it down one by one." Aqua suggested, which the others agreed to.

"What can you guys do?" Ragna asked Donald and Goofy.

"I'm the King's Magician!" Donald answered with pride.

"I'm the Captain of the Royal Knights!" Goofy answered, also with pride.

"...I meant skills, but that'll work. Goofy, you join up with Sora. Donald, keep your distance and watch your aim." Ragna ordered.

The two agreed, the group now ready as the armor jumped at them. They dodged the attack before starting their formation, the melee fighters engaging while the mages kept their distance.

Ragna and Terra took on the feet as Sora and Goofy handled the hands. As they swung, they immediately noticed the armor was quite tough as their attacks only scratched it. Not having it, Ragna swung with both hands to leave a deep cut across the foot.

"Just swing harder!" Ragna called out, which the others heard and followed through.

As they do just that, Donald swings his staff to pepper the torso with Firaga fireballs as Aqua cast Thundaga bolts upon the head. The armor was getting damaged, but then separated itself.

The hands spun like a twister to knock away Sora and Goofy as the feet stomped down upon Ragna and Terra to force them back while the torso spun itself like a spinner towards Aqua and Donald, which she blocked with a barrier spell. The limbs and body jumped up into the air to reconnect, the armor falling fast to the ground to make a shockwave. The group was stunned for a moment at this sudden counter, which the armor took advantage of.

It then sent its hands to attack, its left launching at Ragna with a straight punch. He blocked it, but the force made him slide right into one of the pillars. Its right tried to slam Terra into the ground, but he blocked it as well, his feet pinned down as he pushed back against the force. The left changed targets and flew around to hit Sora, but Goofy was quick on his feet to shield it, only for the two to get knocked off their feet. Terra knocked the hand back and was now fighting both hands at once.

"Back off!" Aqua jumped up to perform Prism Rain in anger, but something in the attack changed. As she fired, it wasn't rainbow colored orbs, but a rain of dark energy that flew. She landed as the attack hits the armor, the sudden darkness shocking her deeply.

"H-How... did I..." Aqua looked at her hands as she tried to process this.

However, her attack did get the armor's attention as Terra charged his own.

"Eat this!" Terra leaped and slammed his keyblade into the ground, sending a group of small meteors down upon the armor. It did good damage, destroying its right hand in the process.

"That would have at least take both hands out." Terra muttered to himself.

The armor looks back at Terra as Donald and Goofy grouped up, performing a double attack as Donald conjured a large Firaga ball for Goofy to hit it with his shield like a bat, hitting the right foot with an explosive impact to destroy it. As it hit, Ragna quickly climbed to the top of a pole and performed an enhanced Belial Edge to destroy the left hand and slash the back of the torso.

Ragna landed on his feet as he looks to Aqua, "Aqua!"

His shout restored her focus to the fight, "Uh, right!"

With a swift motion, she fired a large Blizzaga spell to destroy the left foot, leaving only the torso left. As a last resort, it spun like crazy to attack all around the area to hit its opponents. Unfortunately for the heartless, it was stopped as Aqua summoned the golden chains to hold it down.

"Go!" She called out.

Ragna and Terra dashed at the torso, performing a cross slash attack as Sora leaped for a downward slash finisher, the three landing as the torso disappeared along with the chains, a glowing heart floating into the air before also disappearing.

"All right!" Sora cheered as the rest came over to him, the pillars going back down to the ground in the process.

They put away their weapons as Goofy spoke up, "Gawrsh, you guys are great!"

"Glad to know that, at least." Donald said offhandedly.

Ragna took notice of that comment as Goofy continued, "You know, you should come with us. We can travel to other worlds aboard our vessel."

"That's good to hear. What do you have?" Terra asked.

"It's called the Gummi Ship." Donald answered.

"Gummi Ship?" Ragna repeated.

"I'm not surprised the king uses it." The group turns towards the voice, which belongs to Merlin as his group shows up.

"He was the one to tell our king about it, revealing the possibilities of other worlds." Leon explained.

"Your world also had a king?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, though we believe he went missing after our world fell." Aerith answered.

There was a brief pause for some reason, which Ragna spoke up to get back on topic. "Anyways, we're gonna need a group discussion first."

Goofy and Donald nodded in agreement, allowing Ragna to take his group over a good distance away before talking.

"Any reason we're doing this?" Terra wondered.

"To make sure we're on the same page. But first..." He then turns to Aqua, who was quiet the whole time. "You all right?"

She looks at him and slowly responded, "I was able to use darkness... but, I don't remember succumbing to it."

"I saw that. Maybe it's a side effect from the Dark Realm?" Terra guessed.

"That's not a bad theory..." Aqua agreed as she placed her hand up to her chin.

"If that's the case, it may explain what happened with me. My attacks should have done more damage during the battle." Terra followed up with.

"I know what you mean..." Ragna commented, remembering the times his power got tampered with.

"Well, it can't be all that bad. In fact, maybe this is a way to actually get stronger than before. I just got this power, so I'll be growing stronger alongside you guys." Sora said, trying to raise morale between them.

"Good point. Did wonders for me." Ragna smirked.

"All right, I'll take on the challenge." Terra said with determination.

"Same here." Aqua agreed.

"All right, with that out of the way, what about them?" Ragna said to get back on topic.

"If we can find my friends while traveling, I'm all for it." Sora accepted.

"I don't see why not. I met them before and they care about their king." Aqua agreed.

"You did?" Terra questioned.

"Yeah, they were at Master Yen Sid's tower." Aqua answered.

"I didn't see them..." Terra thought about his visit to the tower as he said this.

"That may be true... but Donald doesn't leave a good first impression." Ragna warned.

"Goofy seems nice." Sora pointed out.

"He's all right... but I'll keep my eye on them." Ragna said.

"Guess we're on the same page then." Terra finished up with as the group walked back over.

"Sorry about that. We'll go with you, we got people to find too." Sora said.

"Great! But, I'm not sure if we have space for all of us." Goofy remembered.

"Hang on..." Donald then lifted his left arm with a bracelet that had a small screen and pressed a button, showing two chipmunks on it.

"Hey, Donald! Whatcha need?" The black-nosed one asked.

"We're gonna need some extra space, about three more seats is fine." Donald answered.

"Three? I thought we were getting one person." The red-nosed one questioned.

"Actually, two of them also wield the keyblade." Donald mentioned.

"Whoa, really!? That's good news!" The black-nosed one cheered.

"Yep! Hope it isn't a problem for you two." Goofy said.

"No worries, we just need some time to install them. We'll call back when we're ready." The red-nosed one said before the transmission ended.

* * *

The groups have returned to the First District, where Ragna and Sora are talking with Leon, Yuffie and Aerith.

"Your journey is gonna be tough, so you best be prepared." Leon said.

"This is from all of us." Aerith said, handing Ragna a small bag. He opens it to look inside, showing diamond-shaped orbs colored yellow and blue on two separate halves. It came in various sizes, from large to small.

"What's this?" Ragna asked.

"Munny, a universal currency we use. There is enough for you to get what you need." Aerith answered as he closed the bag.

"And this is from Squall." Yuffie said, handing them an Elixir as Leon corrected her, "Leon..."

"Thank you." Sora said as Ragna also took it.

"Be sure to look out for each other." Leon said.

Ragna nodded in response as Leon's group went off, Sora putting his hands behind his head as Ragna puts away the items.

Meanwhile, Aqua and Terra were talking with Merlin, Donald and Goofy.

"Your king sent me to help you on your magical capabilities." Merlin said.

"I already know the best spells." Donald bragged.

"I mean, for practice. Magic always evolve with the user, no matter the skill." Merlin said, which caught the pair's attention as they walked over.

"I'm actually curious about how magic works here." Ragna mentioned.

"Ah, want to learn how to use magic as well?" Merlin asked.

"That would be awesome!" Sora instantly answered in excitement.

As for Ragna, he thinks on that. Magic in his world was super rare, only knowing a few who do. However, magic here is everywhere. It would expand his combat options and help him in areas he lacks...

"I'm with Sora, it would be awesome." Ragna agreed, but thought of a question. "How do you use it?"

"Simple. Magic is connected to the mind of the user. It must be learned, similar to everyday activities, and practice makes perfect as that will make the spell evolve into stronger ones. As for the actual usage, it uses your energy the same way you use physical actions. However, there is only one exception that anyone can use."

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"A passive ability we call Aura. Everyone has one to protect them, even a normal person. The strength of it is connected to their heart, of course." Merlin explained.

That explains a bit to Ragna, the fights he had with Leon and that armored heartless showed that while he still felt the pain, there wasn't a wound there. He didn't really think about it, due to his healing factor, but now he has an extra shell for protection.

"Now, while it takes quite some time to learn at least one spell, I've created a way to learn them faster with a transfer spell." Merlin said, pulling out his wand.

He then did a few fluid swipes before summoning three small spheres around Ragna and Sora, the spheres being red, blue and yellow respectively. After a moment more, they entered the duo harmlessly as Merlin stopped.

"There you are. Now you have the three basic elemental spells, use them well." Merlin said.

"Thanks." Ragna simply said as Sora is jumping up and down in excitement.

"But of course. Oh, I almost forgot! While magic evolves over time, it actually grows faster when around other mages." Merlin said before summoning a journal in his hand, "And this here will help you on your journey as well."

Ragna took it and opened it to read as Aqua asked, "Does that belong to you?"

"Oh no, it's just a copy of a journal written by Ansem the Wise, a sage widely respected in our world. After he went missing, we found it and wrote copies to help others." Merlin answered.

"No kidding. He wrote down stuff about those heartless we fought with." Ragna said, walking over to the others with the journal flipped towards them.

He was right, the heartless even had names. Shadow, Soldier, Large Body, and Guard Armor were the ones they faced so far. There were even more classes as everyone kept a mental note of it, Ragna closing the journal as he spoke.

"He also wrote how he discovered the heartless and other stuff." He mentioned offhandedly.

"Then did he cause the heartless to show up?" Terra asked.

"We won't know until we ask him ourselves." Ragna answered.

"I'll be at my home if you need me. Goodbye for now." And with that, Merlin left with a teleport.

That leaves Terra, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy as they sat at the cafe with Ragna and Sora heading to the shops. The first one he enters has three ducks that wore matching clothes of a long sleeved shirt and a cap. They only stand out from each other as the colors they wore were red, blue, and green respectively.

"Welcome! How can we help you?" The red one greeted.

"What do you have?" Ragna asked.

"Well sir, we sell potions, ethers, and even weapons if you have that much." The blue one answered.

"More potions will help out in the long run." Sora pointed out.

"Uh, what do they do?" Ragna questioned.

"Potions heal your wounds and ethers restore your magic. We also have stronger ones if you're interested." The green one explained.

In the end, they obtained two Potions, two Hi-Potions, one Mega-Potion, two Ethers, and one Mega-Ether before leaving. They then entered the accessory shop where Cid greeted them.

"Hey there, I guess you found who you were looking for." He said.

"That's right. This is one of them, Ragna." Sora said.

"Hey." Ragna simply responded.

Cid nodded at that before looking at Sora, "Whatcha need?"

"We're about to take off, so we need to be prepared." Sora answered.

"I see. Well, we have various accessories that has special effects, as well as gummi parts for your ship." Cid said.

"Gummi parts?" Ragna asked.

"Yep. Leon told me what happened, so I made sure to offer what I know to make your travels easier." Cid answered.

"That's good to hear." Ragna said before a new voice spoke up.

"Hello there, kupo!"

The three looked at the doors to see a... floating plushie? It was white with small purple bat-wings on its back and a red orb hanging like an antenna. While it's clearly an interesting creature, it looked like a stuffed animal.

"Uh, hi there." Sora waved at the creature.

"Oh yeah, this is a Moogle. They can give you various information about the other worlds. They also have a shop upstairs, but they're still renovating." Cid informed.

"He is correct, kupo! Come to me when you have questions, kupo!" The Moogle said as it floated to the lounge corner.

While accessories were interesting, as well as the parts, they decided to ask the group about it before purchasing anything. As they exited, they walked over to the group who is now at the gate.

"We are good to go! Got everything we need?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah. Time to get going." Ragna answered.

* * *

The group exited the gate to enter their transportation, a colorful ship. Donald and Goofy showed them a short tour of the resting quarters and the cockpit that has a storage chest for their items. After they placed their key items, they looked upon the extra seats and decided who sits where. Sora sits up front in the middle as Ragna sits behind him, Aqua behind Goofy and Terra behind Donald.

"All right! Buckle up!" The chipmunks from before showed up on the monitor up front.

"I'm Chip!" The black-nosed one introduced himself.

"And I'm Dale!" The red-nosed one followed up with.

"We'll be your engineers for this journey, taking care of the ship as you travel to new worlds!" Chip said.

"So be sure to not damage anything!" Dale warned.

"Anyways, keep your belts on as we warm up the engines!" Chip then pressed a button that made the ship vibrate.

"Three... two... one... blastoff!" Dale then pressed a button next to Chip to launch the ship off the ground.

Ragna couldn't believe he's in space as he looked at the stars, enjoying the view as they flew to the next world.

 **DONE! All right, a lot to say here:**

 **1\. Vs. Guard Armor - Destiny's Force (Great song for those big heartless)**

 **2\. The side quests are either along the way or already completed. Ansem's Reports is one I decided to have completed as a nice way for entering chapters and reading material for Ragna on the trip. As I mentioned two chapters before, the dalmatians is one we're doing along the way. The others are gonna be shown later.**

 **3\. For clarity on the new stuff:**

 **A. Magic evolves over time with practice as it is connected to the mind, allowing the user to cast spells even when wounded or has a status aliment. The power of the spell depends on the strength of the heart through the aura surrounding the person. Bonus point, using it while surrounded by experienced mages speeds up the growth of the user's spells. Speed varies on the skill of the other mages.**

 **B. Speaking of aura, it's a passive ability for anyone that protects them from attacks. It also depends on the heart's power, so a normal person isn't as strong as a keyblade wielder for example. Think of it as kinda a third layer of skin, so status ailments still affect them.**

 **C. Items such as Potions and Ethers have the same properties, but the way they are used is actually by calling out someone's name or simply tossing it over their own head.**

 **(Ex. Ragna: Aqua! *tosses a potion, it teleports over her head and heals her*)**

 **D. While I made the heartless stronger, I also gave Terra and Aqua a side effect to weaken their full strength. Terra's reason is because he's just half of what he is for obvious reasons. Aqua's reason is due to how long she spent in the Realm of Darkness, pushing out some of her darkness to the surface.**

 **3\. The Moogles do what they do in the games, Item shop works the same, but I moved Cid's Gummi shop into the accessory shop because that makes sense.**

 **4\. In the original series, I'm guessing Ansem the Wise was kinda like a ruler in Radiant Garden, but I decided to give the world an actual king. Take a guess who it is.**

 **I also gave a longer chapter to mainly end our first visit here as I wanted to get on with the other worlds. As for the order we go in, I know the usual way, but I altered it. You'll see what I mean, so until next time, see ya next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 3: Land of Weird Wonders

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back. Now, what do we have:**

 **Blazblade: *facepalms* I knew I was missing something! I was gonna put his reaction to Donald and Goofy in, but it slipped my mind. But even then, it wouldn't be much considering that he was literally trained by a TALKING CAT... so yeah. As for the other worlds, those will get reactions.**

 **Spartastic 4: I decided to use the aura idea as it does make sense for them for not having any wounds whatsoever. To be honest, I think it's just a little habit I didn't notice until now when I started writing, but I'll try to break that habit. I do that because if you are reading this series, you should know about the Kingdom Hearts and Blazblue universes, hence why I'm usually light on character descriptions... I'll put a bit more next time.**

 **Haxorus Knight: I want to update as much as I can, but I'll always wait a few days for feedback and continue from there.**

 **Now, let's continue!**

 **Chapter 3: Land of Weird Wonders**

The group of heroes were projected in a small special field as those in the shadows of the room (that was very dark except for the green glow and a blue flame) watched on in annoyance.

"That little squirt took down that heartless! Who'd have thought it?" The Underworld God spoke, "Although, I didn't expect the bluebird and the dark horse to appear..."

"Such is the power of the keyblade. Even then, they had to combine their strengths to defeat it." The Serpent Sorcerer clarified, "However, the child's strength is not his own."

"Why don't we just turn them into heartless? That'll settle things quick enough!" The Sea Witch suggested.

"And their friends are the king's lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them." The Neverland Pirate spoke.

"You're no prize yourself!" The Bag of Bugs retorted, laughing at his own joke.

"Shut up!" The Pirate didn't take kindly to that as he pointed his hook to threaten him.

"Enough." A voice that belonged to the Evil Fairy herself further down the corridor of the dark room, silencing the other villains. "The Keyblade of Light has chosen him... will it be he who conquers the darkness?... or will it consumed him? Either way, these wielders will prove quite useful."

"My, my, isn't this quite the gathering?" A unknown voice to even them spoke, entering through the double doors behind her.

"And who are you?" She questioned, more eager to know how he got here.

"Let's just say, an uninvited guest..." The man walks towards her first, "But one you will find quite helpful to your schemes."

"Oh really? And what exactly are you offering?" The Evil Fairy knows how to play her cards, letting him speak before passing judgement.

"It's quite simple." The silhouetted man begins to pace around her, noticing the other villains watching with curiosity before stopping in between her and the circle.

Before he spoke again, she was able to notice more of his appearance by the outline of his figure. He wore a fedora on top of his head, which no doubt he matches with a suit of some sort. He then turns around and walks towards the circle as he spoke.

"I noticed that you didn't mention the man in the group. The one with the spiky white hair and red coat..." He stops in between the Pirate and the Sea Witch to then point at the man he described, revealing his right hand wore a small brown glove around his palm.

"Of course we noticed, we were just about to discuss it." The Sea Witch pointed out, "Until you entered..."

The man ignored her and stepped back to walk around the small group over to the other side that was vacant as he continued, "My point being, he and I has had a long history, stories upon stories of all our battles..."

The Evil Fairy walks over as she asked, "And what would you like in return?"

The man then reveals a piercing yellow glow from his left eye that appears as if he's part snake as he answered, "Everything you know about this new universe I find myself in. A simple exchange of information that could lead to quite a alliance..."

The Evil Fairy couldn't help but let out a small devilish smile, "...Very well."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Gummi Ship flew across the stars as Goofy was conversing with Aqua.

"Do you have any clues as to where the king might be?" Aqua asked.

"Sadly, no. All we know is in the letter he left us, to find the key... er, keys." Goofy answered.

"Sounds like you just go with the flow..." Ragna commented as his eyes were reading the journal.

"Nothing wrong with an adventure." Terra added.

"You guys sound like you done this before." Sora pointed out.

"Just once, honestly..." Terra said, shifting his eyes a bit before looking out the window.

Aqua knows what he means as she stayed quiet in response. Meanwhile, Ragna was reading an entry from the journal that goes as follows:

 _Much of my life is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That wisdom has guarded this world well, none of our people doubts that. I am blessed by their smiles and respect, even from our king. But though I am a Sage, there are things we have yet to know._

 _I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. If given the chance, even a small influence can spread and eventually swallow it entirely, which I sadly witnessed too many times._

 _Darkness... so many questions with no answer. Where does it come from? How does it affect us so? To protect our world, I must find the answers. If we don't, our people will perish and our kingdom will fall._

 _"Whoever this man is, he does care about those around him. Which means something happened to him that created this mess."_ Ragna thought before Donald called out, making him close it and puts it in the chest next to him.

"Get ready, we're about to land!" He said as the others prepared themselves.

* * *

The way they entered wasn't what they were expecting, as they were floating down a hole that had rather weird designs. As they got close, they noticed that the furniture at the bottom were flat as the tiled floor before landing on their feet. They then heard a sudden thud as Goofy landed on his belly instead.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" Soon after that, a white chubby rabbit runs by, holding a broken pocket watch and was wearing a red jacket over a yellow shirt with an upturned collar, a brown bowtie, gray pants and a pair of small round glasses.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there." The group just stared as the rabbit ran in a zigzag, rambling to himself along the way. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

He then ran around the corner, silence filling the air before Sora spoke up. "OK..."

"He was panicking a lot for a meeting. I guess the queen isn't the nicest one around..." Terra guessed.

"We should see for ourselves in that case." Ragna added as he walked ahead.

The others followed, but the walk was short as Ragna stared at... a door?

"Did anyone else hear a door slam?" Aqua wondered, which everyone else said no.

Shrugging it off, Ragna opened it... only to meet another door. A bit smaller, it was still a door behind a door. He opened the second one, which lead to... another door? Smaller than the previous one, it's still another door. Everyone just scratched their heads before Ragna opened that one out of annoyance, finally revealing another room inside. The taller ones in the group had to duck their head to avoid hitting the top as they entered, seeing the rabbit from earlier run to a small door that should have been the size of him, despite being bigger before.

"How did he get so small?" Sora questioned, which was actually answered by... the doorknob?

"No, you're simply too big." It said in response.

The group jerked back in surprise, "Whoa!"

"It talks!" Donald stated.

"No shit!" Ragna said. He has seen a lot of things, talking shapeshifting stuffed animals for one, but inanimate objects was new to him.

The doorknob yawned a bit before speaking again, "Must you be so loud? You woke me up."

"Good morning." Goofy greeted.

"Goodnight! I need a bit more sleep." The doorknob was about to fall back asleep before Sora spoke up, "Wait, what do we have to do to grow small?"

"Why don't you try the bottle... over there?" The doorknob answered, still a bit drowsy as he looked past the group.

The group followed his line of sight and sees a chair pop up, along with a table that had two drinks that were red and blue respectively. As the doorknob fell back asleep, they then realized... the room is actually a bit smaller than they thought. As Sora moved towards the table with Aqua and Ragna stepping aside for him, that caused a chain reaction for Terra to back up and hit his foot on a small bed next to him, pushing it into the wall to reveal a hole in the wall.

Before he spoke up about it, they find themselves actually shrinking. Once the effects stopped, they were about as tall as the door itself with Ragna, Terra and Aqua being a bit taller.

"All right, we shrank! You mind letting us in now?" Ragna called out to the doorknob, with no response back. He sighed at this before Terra spoke up, "Over here."

He called over the group to a hole near the corner of the wall, that he stumbled upon earlier. As they entered, the hole lead to a hedge maze they had to navigate through. It wasn't very big, just one path straight ahead that branches off into more as they went deeper. The hedges themselves weren't much except for the red roses scattered about every so often, but some looked as if they were wet, dripping red from their petals. Upon closer inspection, they were actually white roses painted red.

"Why would they paint them?" Aqua wondered.

"Maybe they ran out of the red ones..." Sora guessed.

Next thing they knew, they heard pleading as guards walked by a path further down, dragging other guards with red paint on them. Strangest thing was, they looked like cards you would see in a card game, such as black spades and red hearts. Though, what the pleads were about caught their attention.

"It was an accident! Please, I don't want my head removed!" The second guard that was being dragged explained on deaf ears.

By the sound of it, the ruler of this world places death sentences on something that's not really major. Ragna then ran off after them before the others could follow, climbing up the surprisingly strong hedge wall to get a better view. Only two guards in sight, Ragna quietly walks across the wall to get to a corner ahead of them and jumps down for a surprise attack. In a swift motion, the red guards were knocked out as the black guards got up to their feet.

"Thank you, kind stranger! How can we repay you?" The first one asked.

"Why were you being executed?" Ragna questioned.

"Oh, we were planting the red roses the Queen had requested, but they got mixed up with the white roses and planted those instead! We knew the Queen would punish us if she found out, so we quickly got the red paint and painted them red!" The second one answered.

"Unfortunately, she did and-" The first continued, which Ragna cuts him off by finishing it with, "You got the guillotine."

The two guards nodded at this, making Ragna have a look of disgust before the one on his left spoke up again. "Oh! This nice girl came up and kindly helped us paint the roses red. She's on trial right now! Please help her!"

"Sure. Now get going." Ragna responded with no hesitation and sent the guards on their way. By the time the conversation ended, the others have caught up with him.

"Didn't have to run ahead like that." Aqua lightly scolded.

"Just getting some info about this place. The Queen isn't exactly kind to minor shit." Ragna retorted.

"Then we can just have to see what's going on." Terra suggested.

"Wait!" Donald yelled out to get their attention.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Don't you know you're meddling!?" Donald questioned.

"Meddling?" Ragna repeated.

"Oh! That means that people like us from another world can't interact with the events of the world we go to." Goofy explained.

"Then that rule doesn't matter now. The heartless are doing just that, why can't we?" Aqua pointed out.

"Yeah, but-" Donald tried to argue, but knows she has a good point.

Ragna walks pass them as he speaks, "We should get going. An innocent girl is on trial, we're stopping this tyrant."

The others followed with Donald letting out a sigh before going as well. They went the way the guards came from and finds themselves at the end, which was some sort of courtroom. The sound of a trumpet was heard as the rabbit they were following before was blowing it.

"Court is now in session!" The Rabbit announced.

"I'm on trial, but why?" The girl asked.

The girl was very young, with fair skin and medium length blonde hair that was tied by a black ribbon. She wore a blue dress that has a white apron tied to the front, white tall stockings and black shoes.

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" The Rabbit introduced.

The Queen sat on her throne as she held her heart-shaped scepter. She was quite obese, with fair skin color and black hair that had a gold crown on top with matching earrings. She wore a black and red gown over a black and yellow striped dress along with a white collar around her neck as she looked down upon the girl.

The Rabbit then got a tap on the shoulder by another heart-shaped scepter, which belonged to a small man much smaller than the Queen. He nodded at him, which the Rabbit complied.

"And the king..." The Rabbit added with barely any effort compared to earlier.

The King raised his large golden crown up, which got at least one person to let out a small cheer. He had fair skin and neat brown hair, along with a goatee and a small black mustache, wearing a red gown that had white linings that was bigger than his stature.

"This girl is the culprit... there's no doubt about it." The Queen spoke as she then smiled, "And the reason is... because I say so, that's why!"

"That is so unfair!" The girl pointed out.

"Well, do you have anything to say in your defense?" The Queen asked, knowing the answer in her head already.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" The girl defended herself against the Queen, "You may be queen, but that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"

The Queen obviously didn't take kindly to that as she shouted, slamming her fists on the table in front of her. "Silence! You dare defy me!?"

Ragna and the others watched on, angered at the fact that the Queen abusing her power in such a way.

"The court finds the defendant... guilty as charged!" The Queen decided, hitting the end of her staff on the table before continuing, "For fooling me with fake red roses, assault, and attempted theft of my own heart..."

Right there was the evidence the heroes needed as the Queen announced the punishment as she pointed her staff at the girl. "OFF WITH HER-!"

Sora called out, cutting her off. "Hold it right there!"

"What is this!? Who interferes in MY court!?" The Queen was livid at the sudden interruption.

"Excuse us, but we know who the real culprit is!" Aqua called out.

"Yeah, it's the heart-" Goofy then covered his mouth, which Ragna picked up on.

"She's not the one you're looking for!" Terra called out.

"Nonsense! What proof do you even have?" The Queen questioned.

"The rose thing is petty as hell! And the girl couldn't have even hurt you, much less be provoked to attack you!" Ragna denounced her in response. "You got the wrong person and you know it!"

The Queen was furious at his claim, heavily breathing as her face was red. However, she then felt her gown get pulled a bit as the King spoke.

"P-pardon me, dear. But wouldn't it be reasonable for these newcomers to give us a witness or evidence of their own?" He suggested.

She calmed herself and her face returned to normal as she spoke "Fine then. I'll give you one hour to find the "real culprit" and prove Alice's innocence. But, if you do not..."

The floor under the girl suddenly opened like a trapdoor, the same trapdoor opening again in the wall of the cage nearby for the girl to fall out of, locked inside as the trapdoor closed.

"Off with ALL your heads!" The Queen finished, sitting back with a smile on her face. "Report back here when you're ready."

Ragna clenched his fists as he glared at her for a moment, then looked away as Sora spoke. "We just need to prove the heartless were the culprit."

"And how we're gonna do that?" Donald asked.

"Just gotta look around for now." Aqua suggested.

Meanwhile, Ragna walked over to the girl, now known as Alice, in the cage to talk to her.

"Oh, hello. I must thank you for defending me." Alice greeted.

"No problem. Heard about what happened, it's... just stupid." Ragna said.

"I'm Alice. Who are you?" She asked.

"Ragna." He simply answered.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ragna."

"Just Ragna is fine."

"Oh, very well. Do you know who was the one that attacked the Queen?"

"Yeah, but it's not supposed to be here at all."

"I see. Please, find that ruffian. I rather not lose my head."

"Don't worry, we will." With that, Ragna heads back to the group as they entered another hole in the wall. As he caught up with them, they find themselves in some sort of strange forest. They looked around as suddenly, a floating cat head with a disturbingly large grin appeared like a-

"What the hell!?" Ragna yelled, surprised at the head disappearing and reappearing a couple of times around them.

It then reappeared once again on the stump next to them, the body of it kinda dancing on top of it before stepping off, putting it back on its shoulders. Now fully formed, the cat had purple and pink fur patterned like stripes on its body, with magenta fur on its head and yellow eyes.

"Who are you!?" Donald questioned.

"Who, indeed?" The cat responded vaguely, "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and not guilty at all!"

"Hey, if you know where the culprit is, tell us!" Sora demanded.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell." The cat answered with, "The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

The cat then slowly disappeared as Sora called out, "Wait!"

"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit." The cat said, "Follow the pieces of evidence. They are a cinch to find, but can also be quite tricky."

"...Should we trust you?" Aqua questioned.

"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" After answering, the cat disappeared completely.

With no other leads to go on, the group went into the forest to find the evidence they need.

 **And done! OK, so what's new:**

 **1: I wanted to have a bit more of the movies in each of the visits, as it would give more of a personality to the world as well as add more characters that I thought would be cool to see.**

 **2\. Thank god I remembered the villain scene as it was a great opportunity for adding another villain into the mix to counter the heroes.**

 **So, hope this was a good start and see ya next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 4: Innocence of Madness

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to the story. Now, let's see what we got:**

 **Spartastic 4: I don't remember seeing Terumi wearing a fedora, but of course the smooth criminal is gonna be in this story. I love his fighting style and his stylish fashion sense. We shall see, but not just yet. Good, I'm catching them one by one.**

 **Azure Legacy: Well, Wonderland is usually the first world people go to in the first game, so it makes sense to start there. I can definitely see Ragna doing that.**

 **Haxorus Knight: I'm updating at my own pace, thank you. But, we shall kick heartless in the butt!**

 **Sonicdude8: An extremely dangerous one, indeed.**

 **ArmantusCumPinnae: What the visits are based on, specifically. Since KH1 is using the original animated movie, that's what I'm going for. Though, stuff from the live action movies would be very cool.**

 **Now then, let's keep going!**

 **Chapter 4: Innocence of Madness**

On an unknown world in a castle of sorts, a small room was rather dark except for a candle that was lit, a boy was writing something in his journal on his desk before closing it.

The boy was a young teen that had pale skin, bright blue-green eyes, and silver hair that reached his neck. He wears a yellow vest that has two black straps trimmed with white and crossed to form an X on his chest and upper back, black gloves also trimmed white, dark blue-gray pants held up by a black belt with a silver rectangular buckle, finishing with blue and white shoes.

"You must be Riku."

Riku turned around to look at where the voice came from, seeing a man at the doorway. The man wore a stylized suit with a fedora to match, brown straps on his palms, and brown shoes that had armor parts on it. He had pale skin and neat green hair, but what creeped him out was his eyes were closed.

"Who's asking?" Riku questioned, taking a cautious step to the side.

"Pleasure to meet you. Maleficent has told me a bit about you." The man answered as he walks a few steps inside. Once he stops, he takes off his fedora and bows a bit.

"My name is Hazama, a new ally." This was news to Riku, making him more curious as the man named Hazama puts his fedora back on.

"What's your reason to join?" He asked.

"Simple. One of your friends knows an enemy of mine, which of course makes the enemy to them a friend to me. Know what I mean?" Hazama explained.

"Yeah, I do. But I'm only saying this once, leave my friend alone. He has nothing to do with you." Riku threatened.

Hazama rubbed his chin as he paced a bit, making Riku glare at him. He then puts his hands up in a casual way, "OK, OK... your friend will not be harmed."

The entire exchange just now, his smile never dropped at all. Riku had a bad feeling and it grew more.

"I understand the feeling of seeing people you know on the other side..." Hazama casually walked to the doorway, but finished before exiting that Riku heard in a slightly deeper tone.

"But you'll get used to it..."

* * *

The forest of Wonderland was colorful, to say the least as the group walk on the clear path ahead. There were also two big yellow flowers ahead of them that sounded like they were singing, but quiet. They stopped in front of the flowers, curious on what the tune was.

"Green leaves of healing, let us bloom and grow..."

"Leaves of healing..." Aqua repeated before getting an idea. She then cast a Cure spell on them, causing them to blossom fully and letting out a powder on her. She coughed a bit before realizing she was growing bigger. She was now at her normal size as the others looked up at her.

"Huh, didn't expect that. That song was oddly specific, though." Ragna pointed out.

"At this point, the whole world is random." Terra agreed.

"What can you see up there?" Sora called up to her.

Aqua looks around and sees that the stump from earlier looked a bit loose at the ground. She then crouches down, the others backing away to avoid getting crushed, and reached her hand, resting it at the edge for it to then sink into the ground like a button. When it did, the lily pads on the pond lined themselves in a straight path across the water.

"Huh. That's simple enough." Aqua commented.

"Ugh... even simple gives me a headache." Donald rubs his head in annoyance.

"Gawrsh, Donald. My head's been spinning since we landed." Goofy agrees.

"Then it's only getting worse from here. Brace yourselves." Ragna guessed as he lead the way across the lily pads.

As the group does that, Aqua stood back and looked around before seeing a fruit the size of her palm hanging from a nearby tree branch.

"Well, I guess I'm a bit hungry..." She mentioned before grabbing it and taking a bite.

When she did, she grew smaller and smaller until she was as small as the others. Noticing the others went off on the new path, she quickly followed across the water into the new hole.

* * *

When she entered, she saw the others looking at... a tea party?

The table was a bit hard to see as there was a blanket of steam hanging above a bit higher than it should, with teapots of various sizes and colors lets out more with a rather catchy tune to boot. They saw movement at the other end of the table as they walk up to the pink chair on their end. Over the steam, they see a pair of brown rabbit ears and a green top hat bouncing up and down as voices were singing.

Aqua ducked her head under the steam, which the others followed, to see who was at the other end.

The first one was actually a hare with tan-colored fur and a buck tooth, a blond head of hair and black eyes, a magenta nose, a white cottontail, and wearing a red suit.

The second one was a short but slender man, with fair skin and white hair who also has a buck tooth as well. As he bounces, the hat goes up a bit showing that he is half bald. Along with his green top hat, he wore a brown suit with a light blue bowtie and an upturned white collar.

The group watched as they sung their song:

 _"Oh, a very merry unbirthday to me!"_

 _"To who?_

 _"To me!"_

 _"Oh you!"_

 _"A very merry unbirthday to you!"_

 _"To me?"_

 _"Yes you!"_

 _"Oh me!"_

 _"Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea!"_

 _"A very merry unbirthday to you!"_

As he starts the final line, the hare then removed the lid of the teapot he was holding and pulled out a mouse that was slender with gray fur. He had small blue eyes, wearing a purple vest under a pink coat, a loose pink bowtie and a white unfastened collar. As he finishes the song, the man removed his hat to show a smaller one, which the hare took, revealing a smaller one, which the mouse took.

The group was only perplexed by this, which made Terra fall back into the pink chair. That immediately caught the duo's attention, the hare dropping the mouse as the two ran to their end of the table.

"No room, no room, no room!" The duo said, baffling them.

"What are you talking about? There's empty chairs here!" Ragna responded in utter confusion.

"Ah, but it's very rude to sit down uninvited." The hare pointed out.

"I'll say it's rude... it's very, very rude indeed." The man supported the point.

"Very, very rude indeed..." The mouse repeated in a very drowsy voice before sinking back into the teapot.

"Uh, sorry." Terra apologized as he stood up.

"If you don't mind, can you help us with finding clues?" Aqua asked.

"Clues, you say? What for?" The man questioned as the hare poured a cup... out of the teapot?

"A girl named Alice is getting trialed for something she didn't do." Ragna answered.

"Alice... I'm afraid I don't know who..." The hare said, dropping two sugar cubes into the cup.

"We met a girl who came here before. Rude, but nice." The hatter mentioned before sipping on his tea.

"Did she have blond hair?" Sora suggested.

"Blond? What color is that?" The hare asked.

"Your hair is that color." Goofy answered.

"Oh, you're right!" The hare lets out a chuckle before finishing, "I am a hare!"

Ragna only facepalms at this, "Oh my god..."

"On top of your head!" Donald shouted in annoyance.

One of the hare's ears ruffled his hair, "Oh! You mean this color!"

"Then yes, we have seen a blond girl. Poor dear didn't know what unbirthdays were." The hatter said.

"Well, have you seen anything... out of place recently?" Aqua asked.

"Out of place... Aha!" The hatter then switch two teapots between their respective places. "Much better."

"Have you seen these dark creatures roaming around?" Terra chooses to be more direct in approach.

"Creatures, you say? As in cats and dogs?" The hare responded with, holding up two tea cups in the shape of the animals as he poured tea into them.

"More like shadows with yellow eyes." Sora described.

"Do they move like little critters across the floor?" The hatter mentioned as he dipped a small plate into his cup, actually taking a bite of it soon after like a cookie.

"Yeah, how did-" Ragna was cut off as Donald yelled, "There it goes!"

The shadow scurried under the door into the house nearby, Donald and Goofy running as they entered the house soon after. Before the others gave chase, the hare spoke up as he pulled them to the table.

"Before you go, you must have a cup of tea!" He said as he held tea cups in impossible stacks that would fall.

Ragna didn't want any, but rather not know if these two have a angry emotion. "All right, just half a cup."

"Very well." The hare then took a cup and a butter knife, which lead to him... cutting the cup in half.

"Funny." Ragna commented before seeing them fill that same cup up... with no logic, the tea stayed in and was handed to Ragna.

He couldn't comprehend the cup as they stared at the tea that was staying in that half of the cup. He then poked his finger in the opened side, able to touch the tea itself. He then dropped it and jumped over the table to the house, kicking the door in before entering.

"Nice meeting you." Aqua said before they ran off after Ragna.

The hatter and the hare sat there before singing yet again.

* * *

Ragna then finds himself falling face first into the ground, "As if my headache isn't any worse..."

Terra then picked him up to his feet as Sora spoke, "Weren't we just here?"

The four looked around and saw that it was the room with the doorknob, but they were standing on one of the walls instead.

"Where did Donald and Goofy go?" Aqua wondered.

They looked around to then spot a painting on the floor, or wall, that is having a ripple effect. As they investigate it, the picture acted like water as Sora moved his hand over it.

"Maybe they fell in here." He suggested.

"Most likely." Ragna agreed as he stood up. "Let's go!"

He jumps in, falling into it like a pool with the others following one by one. Sora was the last one, but noticed something at the corner of his eye. He looks to see the cat again on top of a oil lamp.

"A wild goose chase, quite the trick for a culprit." The cat said as Sora walked over. "But you can find what you search for by lighting the way."

"How so?" Sora asked.

"The smallest flame can reveal the biggest shadow." The cat answered vaguely before disappearing.

"OK..." Sora scratched his head at this as he looked at the lamp, examining it. It didn't have a switch to turn it on, which was weird.

"Oh!" Sora then summoned his keyblade and pointed it inside, using a Fire spell to light it. Once he did, a lion head lifted itself off the wall and opened its mouth, letting out... puppies?

There were twelve of them, all of them dalmatians, came out and walked around on all fours before seeing Sora. He then sees the pups run at him in excitement, jumping at him to knock him over onto his butt. They surrounded him as Sora laughed a bit, slowly realizing what just happened.

"You guys must have been trapped in there. But for how long..." He wondered before feeling a pup lick his face.

* * *

Ragna popped out of a small geyser and land safely, only to notice themselves back at the forest.

"Great, we just went in a circle!" He shouted in frustration as Aqua and Terra popped out as well.

"But at a different place." Terra corrected.

"Look!" Aqua pointed at what she spotted, where Donald and Goofy were still chasing the heartless into the tall grass in the distance.

"They're still chasing it!?" Ragna shouted in annoyance as Terra and Aqua ran ahead to help. He calms himself soon after before running over as well.

As the group chase the shadow through the tall grass, which reached up to their knees, they were spread out to cover more ground.

Goofy tiptoed as he looked around for it, nearing a pond where the shadow was crawling underwater.

"Gotcha!" Goofy dived at it... only to slam his head against a rock that was strangely the same shape. "Ow..."

Donald was pursuing the actual one, going in a zigzag as it jumped just out of his reach. "Stand still, ya little-" Not watching where he was going, he hits himself against a tree trunk and slides down to the ground.

Aqua stands still and listens out for any grass bending around her, the shadow slowly moving across the ground to her blind spot and went solid. It stood still for a moment, tilting its head in curiosity before preparing to attack. It then jumped high into the air... only to get caught by golden chains.

"Gotcha, troublemaker." Aqua said with a smirk as she turned around, keyblade now in hand.

"Good catch." Terra commented as he came over, "Now we got our evidence."

Donald and Goofy walks over while rubbing their heads, "I prefer fighting them from now on..." Donald admitted.

"Hey, you guys seen Sora?" Ragna asked as he walked around, looking at where they came from.

The others looked around as well, not seeing Sora with them.

"I'll go check on him." Terra then headed back at the geyser as Ragna spoke, "You two go with him just in case. Me and Aqua will head to the court, we'll meet up there."

As the duo headed after Terra, the chains on the heartless started to fade which Aqua noticed. "No, not now!"

Ragna quickly grabbed it by the back of the neck with his left arm as the chains disappeared, hanging like a little child in trouble.

"Getting a bit worn out?" He asked.

"No, must be lower on magic than I thought." She answered.

The heartless squirmed a bit, trying to swing its claw at Ragna as he blinked in response. He simply sighed, "Let's get this over with."

He walks to the hole leading to the court with Aqua following as she spoke, "Feeling all right?"

"Got a headache..." He answered as he held the heartless up like a lantern.

* * *

Terra came out of the painting to find Sora surrounded by puppies, "There ya are." He said to get his attention.

"Hey, sorry about that. Got a bit sidetracked." Sora responded with as Donald and Goofy came out of the painting as well.

"Wah! Where did they come from!?" Donald called out.

Most of the puppies went to surround the three as Sora explained what happened. "When you guys jumped in, the cat talked with me about these lamps. I lit it, and they came out of that head." He gestured to the lion head as proof.

"In that case, we can't leave them here." Goofy pointed out, "I'm sure we have space on the Gummi Ship for them."

"Give me a sec..." Donald then turned on the screen of his watch, "Hey, Dale. We're gonna need a bit more space..."

 **And done! So sorry for the delay, but when I realized Soul Calibur VI was gonna be released, I had to play it. Now that I had my fill for now, I'm gonna be back at writing.**

 **So, gonna keep this short and sweet, we had a silly little chase to catch the culprit responsible to have our minds not dive too deep in the rabbit hole, as Ragna will agree with.**

 **Riku shows up finally with a slightly different design then normal. Honestly, Riku's KH1 design was all right, but those pants and gloves annoyed me. So, he's basically without the balloon pants over his normal ones and one belt, along with gloves that cover his hands properly without the wristbands and shoes that are a bit smaller from being as big as Sora's.**

 **Another thing I want to do in this story is to show how it looks from Riku's perspective, which I think would better explain his mindset and his fall into darkness.**

 **Feel free to tell me what you guys think, until then, thanks for reading and Happy Halloween! (Not really a special for it, but it's all I got.)**


	6. Chapter 5: Nightmarish Trial

**Hey, fellow readers! Back with another, let's see what we got:**

 **Spartastic 4: I'll get it right, just you wait. Mainly because they shared one body in the anime, I'm referring to the games when they are separate. The game is awesome, much better than 5 in almost every aspect. Can't wait for the DLC characters. Thanks for the support.**

 **All right, let's wrap this case up!**

 **Chapter 5: Nightmarish Trial**

"So, these Princesses of Light are important?"

Hazama is currently sitting at a table under the stairs of the library, Maleficent standing at the window as she answers his question.

"Yes. Their hearts will be the catalysts to my grand scheme."

"A plan of your own, huh? Mind giving a hint?" Hazama crosses his legs on the table as he said this.

"Of course not. While we may have a alliance, I know not to share everything." Maleficent answered his question before turning around and walking to a giant bookshelf across from her.

"Fair enough. I worked with someone similar, being oh so vague about his motives." He mentioned.

"Having others do your work has its benefits." She admitted before changing the subject, "Now then, tell me more about this Ragna."

"Well, I already told you about him being a world-class criminal, gained from his path of revenge. Granted, it was due to his whole life getting destroyed-" He pauses for a moment to snap his fingers, "just like that."

"Then he must have a sinister darkness in his heart..." She guessed.

 _"You have no idea..."_ He thought, a knowing smirk on his face.

Maleficent turned towards him as she spoke, "Perhaps we can use this for our advantage."

"Not just yet, I want to know more of his allies." Hazama suggested. "Which is where I believe that boy will come in handy."

"But of course, he told me that Sora and Kairi are his best friends when I found him." She remembered.

"Well, he just needs to see for himself how "friendly" Sora is with his new friends." Hazama uncrossed his legs and stood up to his feet, "Once he starts doubting, let nature take its course..."

"And it will lead to him assisting us. That boy Sora is too naive to believe he had betrayed him." Maleficent finished.

"However, the other three might talk some sense into him before then." He pointed out before pulling out one of his butterfly knives, "Guess I'll need to get my hands a bit dirty."

* * *

Aqua and Ragna arrives near the hole to the court, after traveling through the forest again, in time with Terra and the others entering via a teleport from the Gummi Ship.

"Had to make a pit stop?" Ragna asked.

"Yeah. Sora found some puppies inside a lion's head." The two gave him a confused look, "Not an actual lion."

"Wait, you said puppies?" Aqua asked, which Terra answered with a nod. "Were they dalmatians?"

"Yeah." Sora answered this time, "How did you know?"

"I told Leon that I would help him find them, especially since their parents are so worried..." Aqua remembered.

"Then we better find them all!" Sora exclaimed.

"One thing at a time. Right now, we free Alice." Ragna pointed out by showing the heartless he's holding on to.

* * *

The group entered into the court room, going up onto the podium in the center as the Queen called out.

"Have you found your evidence?" She questioned.

"Of course. Here it is." Ragna lifted the heartless into the air for all to see. The sight made them either scream, faint, or even look on in curiosity as the heartless did a little wave with its claw.

"What is that?" The King asked.

"This is your culprit." Terra said, straight to the point.

"That tiny thing? And where is your proof that this is what you claim?" The Queen doubted.

"Simple. This... creature hunts for hearts out of instinct, attacking anything and anyone that has one." Aqua explained.

"And someone being the Queen of Hearts is quite the target." Ragna pointed out.

"If what you say is true, do you have any witnesses to confirm this information?" The King asked.

"Yeah, you can ask the Hatter and the Hare." Goofy answered.

"Very well. First witness!" The Queen hollered.

Two black card guards carried the Hare by the ears as they walked towards the podium. The two tossed the Hare over the group and lands on the wood, casually sitting as he sips on his tea cup.

"What do you know, uh of this unfortunate affair?" The King asked.

"Nothing!" The Hare snapped an answer almost instantly.

"Nothing whatever!?" The Queen shouted.

The Hare shouted back, right in the Queen's face after one swift jump. "Nothing whatever!"

"That's very important!" The Queen exclaimed to the King.

Ragna facepalms at this with his free hand as the Hare hopped away, "What a pain..." The little heartless in his hand copied his movement as the trial continued.

"Next witness, the Doormouse!" The King called out this time.

The same two guards brought a platter with a lid on top, placing it on the wood in front of the Queen before removing said lid. It revealed the golden teapot that the little mouse resided in as she picked it up while removing the lid on the teapot.

"WHAT-"

The Queen was immediately shushed by the guards, which she strangely went along with as she put the teapot back the way it was and whispered instead.

"What have you to say about this?"

Her question had a response as the mouse popped his head out, "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat..."

The Queen brought the teapot's spout up to her ear as she heard, "How I wonder where you're at..."

"That's the most important piece of evidence we heard yet..." She told the King.

"...Huh?" Was Sora's only response to that entire exchange.

"How is that relevant to this?" Aqua questioned, which Terra shrugged at.

"Bring in the last witness!" The Queen exclaimed.

"Not like it's gonna help us..." Donald said offhandedly.

The two guards brought in the Hatter, escorting him down before he stopped to give a bow. The guards were having none of it as they poked his butt with their spears, making him jump onto the podium the same way as the Hare.

"Off with your hat!" The Queen shouted, which the Hatter complied to reveal a teapot with a tea cup stacked under it.

"Oh my..." The Hatter simply said before the King spoke. "Where were you when this horrible crime was committed?"

"I was home drinking tea." The Hatter answered as he filled the cup... by spraying the tea into it? "Today is, you know, my unbirthday."

"Why my dear, today's your unbirthday too." The King mentioned to the Queen.

"It is?" She wondered.

"It is?" The Hatter and the Hare repeated.

"It is?" All the card guards present repeated.

Next thing the group knew, the Hatter and Hare rolled out a tablecloth in front of the Queen as they sung their song from before, with the card guards joining in on the singing. Their only response was a sigh, including Alice. As they sung, Aqua noticed there were no guards currently around Alice's cage, so she discreetly summoned her keyblade and pointed it to the lock. A small beam briefly flew into the lock before disappearing, unlocking the cage.

The others watched as the Queen blew her candles, which made the cake explode and be replaced with a gift box... somehow. She opens it with excitement, pulling out a rather puffy crown with jewels and puts it on her head. Right after she did, the jewels turned into teeth in the form of a certain smile as the Cheshire Cat revealed himself.

"Hey, there's a cat on your head!" Sora called out, pointing up at the Cheshire Cat before he disappears as soon as he appeared.

"Cat!" Next thing they knew, the doormouse popped out of the teapot and ran up the Queen to the banner behind her in panic. The Hatter and the Hare followed suit to catch him, causing mayhem as they yelled something about jam. Goofy was the closest and held the jar as the Hare got the spoon-

"Let me have it!" The Queen demanded...

SPLAT!

Only to get jam splatter across her entire face.

No one knows why, but the sight caught them by surprise enough to make them chuckle a bit. As the Queen tries getting the jam off, the King is chasing the Doormouse to stop them with his hammer. He then goes for a hard swing... only to slam it against the Queen's head. The room went silent as they can feel her rage boiling from underneath the cloth.

"Somebody is gonna lose their head for this!" She growled as she rips the cloth, her eyes glaring at Ragna.

"What?" He was confused until he felt his hands.

Somehow without him noticing, the heartless was replaced by the hammer and the jam jar finding their way to him in the left and right hand respectively. Quickly, he improvised by slamming the hammer down on the wood.

"Not guilty!" He yelled before tossing the jam as a distraction, "Run!"

The group sprinted out of there, the Queen furious as her guards chased them down. They went into the closest hole that lead into the forest to try and lose them, even splitting off into separate groups.

Donald and Goofy ran across the lily pads, Sora and Terra went into the geyser, while Ragna and Aqua just went deeper into the forest.

* * *

A group of card guards crossed the lily pads into the tea party garden, which turns out to be empty. They surveyed the area, looking at the chairs and even under the table.

"Where did they go?" One of the guards asked.

Goofy then dropped down onto the pink chair and threw his shield across the table, shattering the teapots to spray the guards with tea before it bounced off the wall back to him. Donald then appears on top of the chair and cast a Thunder spell, shocking the guards out cold.

"All right!" Donald cheered as he and Goofy high-five each other.

* * *

Another group of card guards shot out of the painting, looking around to not see Sora and Terra as they searched. As for the two, they are hiding behind a teddy bear that is hanging on the shelf on the wall they're on.

"Only twenty? Ten for you, ten for me." Terra pointed out.

"Gotcha. I'll go left." Sora agreed, which Terra nodded before the two jumped out of cover.

Terra jumped in the middle of his group that alerted the guards, which they attack him at once. He deflected their spears and performs Brutal Blast, performing a spinning slash to make them fly. One by one, they got up and tried to attack him, only to be met with Terra grabbing them and throwing them into each other.

Sora rolls into the fray as the guards surround him, stabbing the keyblade into the ground and spun around on the hilt, using his shoes to his advantage to knock the spears out of their hands. Now unarmed, they tried to grab him, but proved ineffective as Sora was too nimble for them. In no time, he knocks them out cold.

"Not bad, made them fold." Terra complimented.

"Heh, thanks." Sora responded back.

Terra looks around and realizes that only eighteen guards were knocked out, "Wait, we missed two."

Sora sees that too and catches the last two guards running into the lion's head, "In there!"

The pair gives chase as they went into the head.

* * *

"Didn't expect you to be so sneaky." Ragna commented after Aqua explained how she freed Alice.

"I just took an opportunity. Though, I didn't think it would go south like this." Aqua said as the two went behind the trees.

Aqua sees that they must have gotten the bulk of the guards, counting up to thirty.

"Any ideas?" Ragna asked.

"Taking them out in one fell swoop?" Aqua suggested.

Ragna nodded at that, his hand on his blade. "Ready."

Aqua took that as her cue, jumping out in front of the group and cast a Blizzaga to freeze them in place. Ragna jumps out and lands behind the group, pulling out his blade as it transformed into scythe form before delivering a horizontal slash. As he placed the scythe on its shoulder, the ice shattered with the guards falling to the ground.

"Out cold." Ragna quipped.

"Must have had a flush." Aqua followed up with a smirk.

Ragna couldn't help but chuckle, "Anyways, we better find the others." He pointed out as he twirled his scythe back into sword form.

* * *

Sora and Terra came out of a hole in the chimney, seeing their surroundings to be the ceiling of the room with the potions. Despite this, there were two tables that had a oil lamp on each one, which had the two guards hiding in them.

"Do you think they can see us?" One guard asked.

"Be quiet or they will!" The other guard warned.

Unfortunately for them, the glass was transparent enough for the pair to see them.

"We know you're there!" Sora called out.

Terrified, the guards shot out of the lamps and ran off, leaving a puff of smoke behind. The Cheshire Cat appears soon after, just casually laying down in the air.

"Oh, how frightening." The Cat sarcastically said, shaking his hands a bit as he does.

"You look like you enjoy messing with us." Terra retorted.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." The Cat vaguely responded with.

"Just give us a straight answer!" Terra shouted.

The Cat rolled in the air as he spoke, "Light the lamps here to reveal the shadows there." He pointed to the floor above them before disappearing.

The two looked at the lamps and at each other, "You first." Sora said.

Terra shrugged as the two climbed the tables and, thanks to Sora knowing what to do, lit them with a fire spell. When they did, a large shadow heartless appeared on the ceiling, coming out to transform into an entirely different heartless. It completed its form as it fell to the floor above, though they didn't get a good look at it.

"We got to find the others!" Sora said as the two went back into the chimney.

* * *

Donald and Goofy returned to the forest at the same time as Aqua and Ragna reached the lily pads, with Sora and Terra popping out of the geyser in such a hurry.

"Coincidence describes this well." Ragna pointed out.

"Guys... we found the boss!" Sora shouted, catching his breath.

"Back at... the potion room!" Terra followed up with.

"Back there? Then we have to pass the court!" Donald warned.

Aqua thought about all the routes they took in the forest, but felt something was off. She then remembered something odd about the tree trunk when she took the fruit off the branch. She looks back up there and sees yet another hole.

"What about up there?" She suggested, getting the others' attention.

"Better than the usual. Now, how to get up there..." Terra agreed as he looks around.

"Here!" The group turn to Ragna who was standing on a tall mushroom, with more taller ones leading up like a staircase onto large leaves.

The group followed suit as they climbed their way onto the branch. Ragna examines the hole and finds that it goes down, "This tree is hollow."

"Shocking." Terra deadpanned, not wanting to think at this point about Wonderland.

"Down we go." Sora said as he went first, jumping in.

The others wasted no time following his lead, falling in a dark void.

* * *

They fell for about a minute before seeing light at the bottom. They slowed down to a float as they reached the floor, stepping out of the hole to the potion room.

"Help!" Turning towards the voice, they see Alice getting cornered by the heartless they saw before.

Now a good look at it, it was rather bizarre in terms of appearance. It had spindly legs resembling scissor jacks, arms that appear like folded paper, and a very long head that had several segments to it. It somehow held clubs in the arms and was juggling them so casually as it walked towards her.

"Hey!" Sora called out to distract it.

The heartless turns around to show that it had a pair of eyes and a jagged mouth on each segment, wearing black armor with large red shoulder pads over a thin and small red body, with the legs being similar in color palette that end at flat and curled feet. Along with that, it also sported gold headlights around its body.

It turned around completely as the group got ready to fight, "All right, get Alice to safety! We'll distract it!" Ragna ordered to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

The three agreed and went around the table as the others charged at the heartless, which Ragna remembered it was named Trickmaster. It began as it swung its batons downwards to swat them away, only for its opponents to dodge. Terra swings at the legs to make it crumple while Aqua stuns it with Thundaga, with Ragna climbing onto the table to gain ground.

Trickmaster backed away and raised its free foot to stomp, Terra sliding away to avoid the attack, followed with it throwing one of its batons at Aqua. She blocked it with her barrier, bouncing it back to its hand. Next thing it knew, pain went down its back as Ragna performed Belial Edge across the head and back before landing.

As the battle goes on, Sora and the others was escorting Alice across the edge of the room.

"What is that?" She asked.

"It's a-" Goofy started, only to get interrupted by Donald. "Monster!"

"Oh my!" Alice looked at the battle happening as they neared the fireplace they came out of.

Sora let her go ahead, "Stay here! We'll handle the giant!"

Alice admits they were brave, but knows she can't really do much in this situation. "Please, do be careful."

"Thank ya, miss." Goofy responded with as the three headed into the battle.

They climbed onto the table and sees the Trickmaster slamming its batons on Ragna as he blocked with his sword with Aqua and Terra preparing a team attack at a distance, with the two conjuring a spell of Pearl and Dark Firaga respectively before firing at the torso. It explodes on impact as Goofy launches into the air like a rocket, coming down upon the head like an anvil. In retaliation, the heartless used its head like a catapult to sling Goofy across the room into the wall and performs a overhead swing upon the table, breaking it in half.

Sora and Donald got sent in the air as a result of that, the Trickmaster cartwheeling right between them as Ragna chased it. Terra runs to catch Donald with Aqua going to Sora, the Trickmaster stretching its arms to set the batons on fire from the stove near the fireplace as they recovered. Ragna uses Dead Spike to have the head hold its feet in place as the heartless swung the batons to launch fireballs at the group.

The fireballs were flying around wildly as the group went behind the broken table for cover.

"OK, we're at a disadvantage here." Sora said.

"Then we bring it down to our level." Terra suggested.

Unbeknownst to them, the heartless slammed the batons on the beast head to take it out and bent its legs to launch itself into the air, plummeting down to land upon the table, destroying it and knocking the group off balance. It juggled its batons before spinning them fast enough to fling them like boomerangs, hitting them before they could recover. It catches the batons and prepares another fire-based attack before a familiar shield was sent flying, hitting between the legs to make it crumble to its feet as Donald fired a Blizzaga to put out the batons.

"Sorry for the wait!" Goofy called out, having recovered from hitting the wall earlier.

"Now!" Donald shouted.

Taking the opportunity, Terra covered ground fast with his slide to get close to the Trickmaster, unleashing Geo Impact to slam the ground beneath it to cause a large jagged rock to knock it off its feet. Donald followed it with causing a Graviga spell to hold it down before Ragna jumped into the air, Sora and Aqua running to each side of the head. For the finish, Ragna stabbed it in the torso with Sora and Aqua blitzing the head, defeating the heartless as it disappeared into dust and a heart going free.

Alice walked out of the chimney as the group put away their weapons, now much more curious as to who they are. They then noticed her and walk on over.

"You all right?" Aqua asked.

"Yes, If I may ask, who exactly are you?" Alice answered.

They were a bit hesitant from the question, but Ragna answered it with a shrug. "Let's just say we're not from around here."

"Oh! Did you fall down a hole as well?" She wondered.

The group were kinda caught off guard, "Yeah we did." Sora answered this time.

Before they continued, a yawn interrupted them as the doorknob woke up. "What's with all that racket?"

"How's a doorknob suppose to get any sleep?" He questioned, followed by a big yawn.

As he did, a strange keyhole appeared in his mouth, making the group curious before Sora's keyblade appeared in his hand and in one swift motion, fired a beam towards it to lock whatever it connected to.

"What was that about?" Sora asked.

"You just locked a keyhole to the world." Terra answered.

"The world has a heart?" Ragna questioned.

"Not an actual one, more like its life force. What he just did was strengthen its lifespan." Aqua explained.

"Though, I doubt it would keep the heartless away." Donald said.

"Better than nothing." Ragna said before seeing something odd.

The doorknob still had his mouth open, showing what was behind the door. Ragna walked towards it for a better view as the others followed suit, with Alice still processing what they just conversed about. Though, what they saw baffled them.

Through the hole, they saw Alice sleeping against a tree in a flowery meadow with a cat sleeping in her lap, despite her being here where they are.

"What do you see?" Speaking of her, she wondered what they were staring at as she walked over.

"...You." Terra couldn't really put it in a different way, they were seeing two of them.

"Me? How is that possible?" She was understandably confused by this, moving her way to the hole to see for herself.

"What do you remember before being here?" Aqua questioned.

"Well, I fell into a hole after crawling into a tree that I took a ...nap on." Alice retraced her steps, now coming to the realization the same time as the others.

"...You're dreaming." Ragna was the first to say it.

Upon saying that, everything actually made sense. The insanity of Wonderland couldn't be explained with logic, just pure imagination.

"If that's the case, then why haven't I woken up?" She sounded a bit distraught, which is understandable considering what happened during her stay.

Ragna took a knee in front of her as he tried to answer her question, "Sometimes, dreams can only go away when you reached the end. Might even teach a thing or two to ya along the way."

Alice twiddled her fingers as she slowly spoke, "Maybe you're right. Before I came here, I just wanted to have a world of my own. After I fell in here, I let my curiosity guide me through this place and find myself unable to comprehend... any of it at all, really. By the time I was trapped in that cage, I find myself wishing I did follow my older sister's advice from the beginning. Guess that's what happens when you want a world of nonsense."

Ragna listened to her as she told her story, reminding himself of his world, which wasn't without its share of nonsensical things. But, what he learned during that time helped him grow and mature, becoming stronger because of it. He chuckled to himself a bit before looking Alice in the eye.

"Well, seems that you learned a lot here, and that's a good place to start. If you want my advice, listen to what others have to say. Just be sure it's the good kind." He advised.

"Thank you, Mr.-" Ragna raised an eyebrow at her cutoff, "Thank you, Ragna."

He smirked at that, "You're welcome, Alice." He got back on his feet as he continued, "Better get going, got others waiting for you."

She looked at the hole for a moment before looking at the others, then back at Ragna. "Will I see you again?"

"Time will tell. We'll see." Ragna wasn't exactly sure about that, which Alice picked up on.

It saddened her a bit, but still hoped that their paths crossed again before walking towards the keyhole, fading away as light seeped through until it was bright. The others shielded their eyes for a second until it faded, a strange gummi piece falling out onto the floor. Donald picked it up and examined it.

"What is this?" He wondered.

"We should ask Chip and Dale about it." Goofy suggested.

The two agreed on that, them and the others heading back to the Gummi Ship by teleport. Ragna was the last one to go as he looked back at the door with a sad smile before heading back.

* * *

The mysterious figure appeared on the world that the new face arrived on, which was a desert that had a strong wind currently going around them. He looked at the person, though couldn't see everything due to the sand. The newcomer was a male teen with brown hair, pale skin and wore clothes colored mainly in black and red.

However, his examination was interrupted as he sensed a massive change in this timeline.

"How big was the time rift?" The only question he had in his mind before putting the boy over his shoulder and teleported once more.

 **And DONE! All right, a lot to digest in this chapter so:**

 **1\. Vs. Trickmaster - Shrouding Dark Cloud (Awesome boss theme!)**

 **2\. I wasn't lying with having more of the movies in the Disney worlds. Though, I'm not sure it's a good balance without it being forced.**

 **3\. More info on the newcomer and the effects of the rift, which leads to...**

 **4\. Alice is NOT a Princess of Light! Shocking, as this is the biggest change by far, but let me explain:**

 **A. Honestly, in terms of being one, her age doesn't really match up. If the princesses existed a decade ago, then either there was another princess before her or there were only six instead of seven.**

 **B. In terms of being important to the story, she is only there to establish the villain's goal. Other than that, she doesn't do anything in the later games. No, COM and Coded don't count since they're retreads of the first game, which doesn't change the overall story at all.**

 **So, who's the replacement? It's kinda obvious, but I'm not spoiling anything.**

 **Thanks for reading this, and see ya next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 6: Return Trip

**Hey, fellow readers! Back with yet another, with:**

 **Spartastic 4: We will. Yay, I'm improving! Compared to other entries, V is the worst, with probably the only good thing being Ezio from Assassin's Creed being the guest character. Now you know. Yes it does and I appreciate it.**

 **Sonicdude8: Same here, I would welcome it as long as it makes the story flow well. When I watched the movie again for a refresher course and saw the ending, I immediately got how this world ends in mind and I'm glad it came out nicely. Noel would be a badass princess. And you shall receive... later.**

 **Azure Legacy: OK, good. Glad it flows well and getting a nice moment intentionally right this time. I know, right? Yes they will. We shall see if you guessed right, but not now.**

 **So, let's get going!**

 **Chapter 6: Return Trip**

When the six returned in the Gummi Ship, they find themselves greeted by the dalmatians from earlier. Aqua went to pet them as the others watched.

"And how many of these guys are out there?" Ragna asked.

"Leon said there was ninety-nine of them." Aqua answered, much to the surprise of others.

"Ninety-nine!?" Sora was the first to speak from the shock.

"Yeah. Surprised me too when he said that." Aqua admitted.

Ragna just sighed in response, remembering the Kaka kittens from his world, but placing the pups in their place.

 _"A literal dog pile..."_ Ragna shuddered a bit at the thought.

Once Aqua placed the pups back in the mini doghouse Chip and Dale made, and the rest recovered from their shock, the six set a return course to Traverse Town that wasn't as long as before since they had the coordinates.

* * *

The six walked into the accessory shop with the pups in tow. Ragna, Terra and Sora carried four of them each as Cid climbed down from a ladder to the second floor, placing his feet on the ground before turning to see the group, surprising him.

"Shit! Don't just pop in like that!" He exclaimed, his left hand over his chest. "Nearly gave me a heart attack..."

"Sorry about that." Goofy apologized.

"We came back when we got this." Donald said, walking over to Cid to then hold out the gummi piece they found earlier.

Cid takes it to examine it, "Ah, these are known as navigation gummis. They usually come in a pair to function fully."

"A pair, huh? Then the other is in a different world." Aqua guessed.

Cid then sees the pups in their possessions, "Hey, you found them!"

"Some of them..." Ragna corrected.

"Right, right, there are more. Still, seeing those guys will cheer their parents up." Cid pointed out.

The mention of their parents made the pups squirm in excitement, making the guys struggle a bit to keep their grip.

"We're almost there, guys! Just a little longer!" Terra said to calm them down, to little avail.

"And before you go, take this." Cid then reached over his counter and pulled out a book that Terra and Aqua recognized.

"Wait, isn't that Merlin's?" Terra questioned.

"Yeah. He found it recently and it was tearing apart when he brought it to me. He gave it to me to repair and I think I did a good job." Cid explained as he handed it to Goofy.

* * *

The six walked through the second district to the dalmatians' house, which upon entering were greeted by Leon as he was headed to the door himself. He was also surprised that they had some of the pups.

"You weren't kidding about finding them." He joked as the guys put them down to the ground.

The pups ran around Pongo and Perdita as Ragna spoke, "Well, Sora found them and Aqua mentioned them after."

Aqua smiled sheepishly at that, "I was more concerned about you guys at the time, sorta slipped my mind."

"Either way, we got more to go." Terra pointed out.

After a brief conversation, and petting the dogs, the group headed off to see Merlin.

* * *

Terra lead the group this time, entering into the caverns behind the fire door. After the six hopped across the stones in the water, Sora was the last one to reach the island where the house resided and gazed at the surroundings as it reminded him of-

"There's something about this musty place..."

That wasn't him... he looks around to see the others aren't nearby, but sees a familiar face near the side of the house. The girl walked out so casually, as if she expected him to see her.

"It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls."

Sora sees her entirely now, her auburn hair and blue eyes he recognized on the spot.

"I remember when we drew those silly faces of ours. Don't you?"

She looked at him with such a kind smile that he couldn't help but call out, "Kairi?"

"Hey, Sora!"

Sora looked in the other direction to the male voice, which was Ragna's as he walked over. Sora looked back towards Kairi, only to see her gone.

"You all right? You looked like you saw something." Ragna wondered, which Sora looked back at him in surprise.

"Wait, no! I saw her! I saw Kairi there a moment ago!" Sora explained.

"Kairi... one of your friends? You sure?" Ragna wasn't really following here.

Sora thought about it. He saw Kairi, but Ragna didn't...

 _"Was I seeing things?"_ Sora thought.

Ragna had his own ideas, which was maybe some sort of hallucination from the lingering madness of Wonderland... or her way of calling out to him?

"Well, we'll figure it out later. Don't wanna keep the others waiting." Ragna said, patting Sora on the shoulder for reassurance before the two went to the entrance.

When they entered, the others have already given the book to Merlin.

"Thank you very much. If you want to read it, I'll place it here." He said as he walked to the drawer by the bed.

He puts it on top where it had wood keeping it from falling before remembering something, "Oh yes! I recently met someone who knows you two." He said, referring to Terra and Aqua.

Before the two can respond on what he means, blue sparkles started to appear around the room for a moment before concentrating on a certain carriage near the group. The carriage started to glow until it burst, forming a female figure.

She was a rather short elderly woman that was a bit on the plump side, with fair skin, black eyes, and white hair under a faded blue hooded cloak that was over a simple blue dress. She had a large magenta bow that was tied on her front to hold the cloak together as the blue sparkles dispersed.

"Hello, my dears. It's been quite a while." The woman spoke with such kindness in her tone.

"I remember. Cinderella's Godmother, right?" Terra greeted with, which Aqua corrected him. "It's her Fairy Godmother."

"It's all right, I am both of those. Now, I was told you have new friends with you." Fairy Godmother mentioned.

"Yes, ma'am." Aqua then brought up Sora over to her side, "This is Sora, a young keyblade wielder like us."

"Uh, hi. Nice to meet you." Sora was a bit caught off guard at the sudden introduction.

"Ah yes, the "key" I believe the King mentioned." Fairy Godmother said.

At the King being mentioned, Donald and Goofy peeked out from behind Terra.

"You know the King?" Goofy asked.

"Oh yes, I was sent to assist you on your journey." Fairy Godmother answered.

"Let me guess, magic spells?" Donald questioned with a hint of sarcasm.

"Now now, that's Merlin's job. I'm here to help with summoning spells." The Fairy Godmother answered.

Ragna was surprised to hear some sass from her, making him chuckle a bit. The Fairy Godmother noticed him as he did, which made her curious.

"Now, I believe I have yet to meet you." She said.

"Oh, this is Ragna. We met him before we met Sora." Terra introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Ragna greeted with, but was more curious on her role. "So, you mentioned summoning? How's that work?"

"Oh well, I'll show you." Fairy Godmother pulled up her cloak on her arms like sleeves and raised her hand, only to look at it and see nothing.

She seemed to show a bit of frustration as she looked around, "Now, where did my wand go?"

The group was confused at this, only for a moment before Fairy Godmother had a realization. "Of course!" She said as she summoned her wand, making the group do a mental facepalm.

She spun her wand with a flick of her wrist and performed a small swirl until shooting out a ball of sparkling dust at Sora, him catching it with his hands before it dissipated to reveal a small clear gem.

"This is a summon gem. These hold a strong soul that narrowly escaped their world before it fell. Though they lack a physical form, you can call their spirit to assist you." She explained.

"Kinda similar to our Wayfinders..." Aqua remembered.

Terra knew what she meant. The Wayfinders allowed them to temporarily use their friends' abilities for a short time, which helped them in tough situations.

"Be warned though, only the person who holds the gem can perform the summon." Fairy Godmother and the group then see the gem glow in Sora's hands, "And it seems he has taken a liking to you."

"To me?" Sora repeated, now looking at the gem in wonder.

"That means you get first dibs." Terra said, ruffling Sora's hair as he does.

Sora couldn't help but show a toothy smile, which Aqua also smiled at. However, it was interrupted when Donald cleared his throat.

"Come on now, you haven't used any magic until now. Now, you're saying that summoning will be no problem?" He was skeptical at this, which is kinda understandable since Sora is just learning the basics in general.

"So, you're saying that you can do this?" Ragna questioned.

"Of course." Right after his response, he snatches the gem from Sora's hands and raises it high in the air. "I summon you!"

One...

Two...

Three...

Nothing happened. Donald was getting frustrated at this, "Come on! Work!"

Suddenly, a mighty roar was heard throughout the room as the gem glowed fiercely, making Donald jump and throw the gem in the air. Aqua was quick to catch it as Donald landed on his butt.

"It seems he doesn't like you." She commented, handing the gem back to Sora soon after.

"Ah, whatever." Donald shrugged off as he got to his feet.

"Anyways, we appreciate the help." Ragna thanked Fairy Godmother.

"Oh, it's no trouble. I'll see if I can find any more." She said before disappearing into blue sparkles, the carriage placed in her place.

Now that they have done what they needed to do and a little extra, the group warped back to the Gummi Ship.

* * *

When the six returned, the communicator came on to show Chip and Dale.

"Welcome back, guys!" Chip greeted.

"We called to tell ya the good news!" Dale said.

"Good news?" Goofy asked.

"Yup. That friend of yours, Cid was the name, helped install that gummi piece you gave him." Chip answered.

"Wasn't it just half of one?" Aqua asked.

"Even a little piece has a function. It seems that this piece can track nearby signatures we haven't reached yet." Dale explained.

"Makes traveling easier." Terra pointed out.

"Be sure to find more of these pieces so we can explore more worlds." Chip said.

Soon after saying that, the communicator turns off. The six got into their seats before the ship started up and flew once more.

As the ship flew the same course to Wonderland to head beyond, Ragna opened the storage chest and pulled out Ansem's journal to read. After turning the pages past the ones he read, he landed on the second entry. Immediately, the words felt different from previously.

 _It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. In doing so, I shall conduct the following experiments:_

 _Extract the darkness from a heart, place it into a pure one to then suppress and amplify the darkness within to see what happens._

 _The experiments caused the hearts I obtained from the test subjects to collapse, even those of the most stalwart. Despite how strong they can be, this proves how fragile hearts actually are._

 _My treatments produced no signs of recovery, leaving me no choice but to confine those who lost their hearts beneath the castle. Sometime later, I went below out of curiosity and was greeted by the strangest sight._

 _Creatures that seemed to be born from the shadows..._

 _What are they? Are they sentient like us? Or perhaps... they are the remaining life of those that lost their hearts?_

"Talk about a shift in personality..." Ragna muttered to himself.

The previous entry was written like a wise man who had doubts of his own knowledge and cared about his people, but this sounds more like the beginning of a scientist's fall to insanity. Was this the start of the man's downfall?

He hears a beeping noise and looked up, seeing Donald and Goofy investigating the radar.

With the pair, two blue dots were seen with their coordinates.

"These must be the new worlds." Goofy said.

"We should head to this one first." Sora suggested, pointing at the one that was closer.

"All right, setting course." Donald said as he presses a couple of buttons.

As they did that, Aqua and Terra spoke to each other.

"Are you sure about that?" Terra asked.

"There's a lot about him that reminds me of Ven." Aqua answered.

"I mean, I can see that. Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"I guess... it's just this feeling I have."

"I saw the kid with his friend Riku. He certainly acts like him, if that's what you mean."

Ragna overhears this, but kept reading more about the heartless. Turns out there are ones that use magic the same way as mages does, kinda like the beast he and Aqua faced in the Dark Realm.

"Might be a good time to start practicing." Ragna said to himself.

Next thing he knew, he hears the three up front talking. Looks like they arrived at the new world, so he puts the journal back in the chest as the trio spoke.

"You think King Mickey might be down there?" Goofy asked.

"In a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on!" Donald answered before starting work on the controls.

Sora stopped him as he tried to convince him otherwise, "Hold on, Riku and Kairi might be down there. Can we just check it out first?"

Ragna heard this and got up from his seat as Donald spoke up, "Forget it! We're on an important mission!"

"We're seriously arguing about this? Just park it and let's get going." Ragna doesn't get why Donald is being stubborn all of a sudden over this, Aqua and Terra even got up to see what's happening.

"Aw, phooey!" Donald then started to turn the ship towards a different direction. But before anyone else spoke up, Sora suddenly jumped at the wheel and tried to turn it back.

"We're landing!" Sora wasn't taking any chances when it comes to his friends.

He and Donald was fighting over control as the ship rocked side to side, making the others try and keep their footing by holding on.

"Stop touching this! Get off!" Donald yelled.

The others tried to stop the fight, but a sudden jerk to the left sent Goofy onto the control panel with them, turning the wheel enough to make the entire ship perform barrel rolls all the way to the world.

 **And done! A little shorter chapter this time, but this was all just to put the dalmatians in a safe place.**

 **I also wanted to have Donald show more of the arrogant side he had in the game, but kinda keep forgetting. So, why not have him try to show off his magic skills, but have it fall flat? Grows to antagonism over a certain argument and there we go.**

 **Also took the time to mention other stuff such as a certain book and summons before heading to the next world.**

 **So, thanks for reading, hope ya'll had an awesome Thanksgiving and see ya next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 7: Strangers Like Me?

**Hello, fellow readers! Getting to the swing of things, what do we have?**

 **Spartastic 4: Oh, almost there! Oh don't worry, I know that. I'm just sticking to the main ones for this story, since they're not repeated to death yet from this point. As for Final Fantasy or even Blazblue... I'm not gonna lie, if I include a Final Fantasy world, it would just complicate what I already have planned and would make no sense since these guys are different counterparts of their original selves. On the Blazblue side, I have ideas... yeah. Overall, I'm just gonna stick with mainly Disney worlds for now.**

 **ssjSega: Hey! Good to see you back with the discussions, man. And yeah, if anyone wants to join in, feel free. It'll help not only him, but me to make this story more accurate for the characters in terms of abilities.**

 **So, with that said, let's dive deep into the jungle!**

 **Chapter 7: Strangers... Like Me?**

Riku was told to come to the chapel a few minutes ago, which confused him at first. Ever since he came here, he just stayed in his room mainly.

 _"Why change now?"_ Riku had that thought in his mind as he stood in the chapel with Maleficent.

"I believe it's time to give you some freedom." Her words surprised him, but also suspicious.

"I'm guessing there's a catch to this." He pointed out.

"Indeed there is, young man." Riku then sees Hazama walk over from the shadows and stops near Maleficent.

"I'll grant you access to other worlds... if you can prove your power." She offered.

"You mean to tell me he got here by pure luck?" Hazama doubted.

"Then I accept the challenge." Riku wasn't gonna let this chance slip away.

"OK... where's your weapon?" Hazama noticed he didn't have anything in his hands to defend himself.

At that moment, Riku realized he left his wooden sword in his room. It's not much, but that was the closest he got for a weapon.

"Very well. I'll give you your first lesson. Call out to the darkness in your heart, let its power channel into a physical form." Maleficent instructed.

Riku did as she instructed, holding out his right hand for what felt like almost a minute before a dark flame appeared and shaped itself into a sword. It resembled a demonic wing colored in red and blue, with the handle itself being dark purple braids and bears a creepy blue eye with a slit pupil.

"There we go... was about to fall asleep." Hazama yawned.

"Then this will wake you up." Riku commented.

Riku then got in his battle stance and ran at Hazama, swinging vertically to his head. In a swift motion, the attack was deflected by two butterfly knives that Hazama pulled out in a X-shaped slash. Riku was pushed back a bit, but kept his footing as he sees Hazama twirl his knives.

"All right, smartass. Let's see you back those words up, I was getting bored anyways." He taunted.

Riku rushed him again, but was caught off guard as a strange chain with a serpent's head launched at him. He narrowly sidesteps it, but sees the head close its mouth and retracted the chain towards itself to somehow pull Hazama to him. Riku tried to jump away, but Hazama was quick enough to deliver a simple kick into his chest, knocking him into the wall.

"Tell ya what, to make this fight brief, just land one solid hit on me." Hazama challenged.

"Really? You're making it too easy." Riku snarked.

Hazama smirked at his response, "Pretty cocky, aren't ya?"

Riku charged at him again, delivering a horizontal slash that Hazama actually leaned back just enough to dodge it. Hazama was smooth in his dodges as Riku kept swinging before conjuring a green aura around himself. Riku swing hard diagonally for an actual hit, only for the snake to slide right past him and retaliate with Venom Sword, hitting Riku in the back.

Riku quickly recovered to his feet with a roll, again charging at Hazama which makes him sigh.

"You're so predictable..." He commented.

Changing it up, Riku jumps onto the wall and leaps up into the air, ready for a lunge blade first. Seeing the darkness channel a bit into the sword, Hazama sends out his snake chain behind him and was able to fling back fast enough to avoid the attack. Landing onto the ground, Riku's attack sent a small shockwave on impact.

"Oh, did ya just do something interesting?" Hazama wondered.

"Don't be fooled, I got more tricks up my sleeves." Riku then remembers he wears no sleeves, "You know what I mean."

Riku stood there this time, thinking over his current approach. _"Rushing him does nothing. Maybe closing the distance with a distraction, but what?"_

He then feels a flicker in his left hand, conjuring a small mist in his palm. It somewhat resembled a flame to him, fully forming into an actual one. It surprised him as it exploded, making Hazama laugh.

"Afraid of a little spark, kid?" He taunted.

Annoyed at this point, he pulled back and lunged his arm out to fire a dark fireball. Hazama counters it by throwing one of his knives straight at it, cancelling it into a puff of smoke. As soon as it appeared, it disperses at a sudden dash straight through the smoke as Riku delivers a swift strike fast enough for Hazama to block instead. Block or not though, it still was a hit.

"Well, you learn fast, kid." Hazama commented.

"You've proven your strength. As a reward, here is your first mission." Maleficent said as Riku and Hazama listened.

* * *

"Wake up, Sora!"

He doesn't know how, but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was the sky with clouds throughout as he feels the wind hitting him. He finds himself in someone's arms, who turns out to be Aqua.

"What happened..." He asked.

"All I know is the cockpit was opened as it fell here, we fell too and you're the first one I saw. Then, here we are." Aqua summarized the events prior.

Sora remembered what led to this and only sighed before Aqua noticed where they were landing.

"Brace yourself!"

She conjured a barrier as the two broke through the roof of a large treehouse, it dispersing as soon as they hit a support beam on the way down and land on the floor. The two tried to shake off their dizziness as they got to their feet.

"You all right, Aqua?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. Glad you are." She answered.

However, they felt a presence that thrives on a hunt. They look around to then see a female yellow leopard pounce from the balcony above, black claws protruding from her paws as the two summoned their keyblades. They rolled out of the way, the leopard lashes out at Sora upon landing to knock him against the wall.

"Back off!" Aqua swung to get the leopard away from Sora, only for the animal to swipe its claws to deflect the attack.

Aqua was quick to recover as she blocked a deadly bite from the leopard, the two in a power struggle for a moment before Sora swung from behind to stun it, followed by Aqua delivering a sucker punch by swinging the hilt into the leopard's head to knock it away. It slammed into a large dresser and rolled on the floor a bit before stopping, staying still for the moment.

The two stayed on guard as they inch slowly towards the leopard, only for it to lunge at them in one swift motion. The lunge was actually quick enough to get Aqua before her barrier spell came up, pinning her down on the ground.

"Oh no, you don't!" Next thing Aqua knew, Sora actually hopped on the leopard's back and grabbed its head in a headlock in a desperate attempt to at least hold it off.

The leopard shook, jumped and rolled in a random pattern into the surrounding furniture to try getting Sora off, to no avail. This gives Aqua time to cast the chains, if she can get a good target on the animal as it was very fast. Sora saw this and tightened his grip, making the leopard halt in its track. Right as that happen, Aqua heard something land on the roof, her attention away long enough for the leopard to slam Sora against the wall to release his grip.

Aqua realized what happened and sees the leopard jump at her once more, only for another person to lunge from the side to knock it into the wooden doors, breaking them open on impact and slid into the railings.

The new arrival surprised Aqua, as it was a man that wore nothing but a loincloth around his waist. He held a spear that was made from a long branch and a sharp rock as a weapon as the leopard got to its feet, growling as it glared with its yellow eyes. Then, it ran off into the forest.

Aqua then lets out a breath and places her hands on her knees as the new arrival notices her, turning his head in curiosity as he moved closer. Aqua notices this and sees his entire appearance. He had long brown hair styled in dreadlocks, light blue-green eyes, and tanned skin on his muscular body. He stood in a hunched position, similar to an ape, as he then spoke.

"Sabor... danger..." The man warned.

Aqua now knew the name of the leopard before responding back, "Thank you for your help."

The man blinked at her once before speaking again, "...Thank you..."

She noticed his speech was rather slow. Maybe he was just shy? She made her keyblade disappear as she crouches down to introduce herself.

"My name is Aqua. Yours?" She spoke with a friendly smile.

The man stood there for a moment before stepping closer, putting down his spear before standing a bit taller and putting his hands near his chest.

"Tarzan..."

"Nice to meet you, Tarzan." Aqua said.

The man, now known as Tarzan, made a few happy grunts in response before hearing a groan from behind him. He swiftly turned around while grabbing his spear, which Aqua remembered Sora and halted Tarzan.

"No need for that. He's my friend." She briefly explained.

Tarzan pointed his spear down as he repeated, "Friend?..."

"Yes, friend." She confirmed, then turning around to check on Sora. "You OK?"

"Yeah... yeah, just a bit sore." Sora answered as he rubbed the back of his forehead.

Aqua used a small Cure spell to heal the soreness as he then noticed Tarzan behind her.

"Um, hi." Sora was a bit confused, which Aqua noticed and explains. "He's Tarzan, he helped us chase away Sabor the leopard."

"Oh, OK." Sora then got up to his feet as Tarzan walked closer to the two, "Nice to meet you. Is this place yours?"

"This place, this place." Tarzan repeated, which confused the two.

"Yes. This place is your home, right?" Aqua asked.

"...Home..." It looked like Tarzan didn't even know what this house was until now.

Sora then sees someone walking behind Tarzan, now knowing the figure is Kairi. He wasn't sure why he was seeing her again, but it reminds him about the others.

"Oh right, we have friends out there! Can you help us find them?" Sora asked.

"Friends need help... we go search." Tarzan answered.

Sora was glad about that, "Great! There's Goofy, Terra, and Ragna."

"Goofy... Terra... Rawgna..." Tarzan sounded out the names, which two of the three he got right.

Aqua would have corrected him right there, but she was too busy staring at Sora with her hands on her hips. Sora noticed this at the corner of his eyes and shifted a bit.

"T-That's right. We better get g-going..." Sora was now sweating a bit as Aqua gave him a stern stare.

He lets out a nervous laugh with an equally nervous smile, all the while trying not to look at Aqua. She slowly started to lean closer, which Sora jumped after a second.

"OK, OK, OK!" Sora was waving his arms around in a panic, which then slowed down to then poke his fingers together. "There's also Donald..."

Aqua stood straight again as she sighed and turns to Tarzan, "And it's pronounced Ragna."

"Ragna..." Tarzan sounded out again correctly before ending with, "Donald..."

"Yes. Now, we get going." Aqua said.

Right after she said that, a loud blast echoed at the jungle below.

"Clayton." Tarzan was quick to respond at it.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Aqua asked, which Tarzan delivered a simple nod in return. "Then take us to him."

* * *

 _"How the hell did I end up here..."_ That was the only thought in Ragna's head as he is currently tied up in vines from the trees when he landed in the branches above.

He looks around at his surroundings and sees his sword dropped at the ground a few feet right below him.

"Oh come on!" He shouted in frustration at his luck.

After he said that, he hears the large leaves and bushes rustling a bit before a gorilla and an elephant came out. The two saw the sword and began to examine it, which Ragna decided to get their attention.

"Hey, hey!" He kept his voice from being too loud to scare them, which didn't really help as they were surprised at seeing him. "Don't touch that, it's mine!"

The elephant seemed to tiptoe around his sword as the gorilla was more curious about Ragna. "If you can understand me, mind helping out?"

He then heard more rustling from the same bushes before seeing a familiar duck, "Donald!" He called out.

"Wha-" Donald glances around before looking up to see Ragna tied in the vines, "Ragna! How did you get up there?"

"Good question. Sadly, no answer. Mind helping out?" Ragna shook a bit to emphasize his point.

Donald sighed and conjured a small Gravity spell to pull the vines until they snapped, dropping Ragna. He was quick to recover and landed on his feet before removing the vines, "Thanks."

He finished taking them off as the gorilla got closer to him, examining from head to toe as she circled around him. Ragna was able to see more of her characteristics.

She had dark hair that has a crest on top of her head, gray skin, and brown eyes. "Her name is Terk. The elephant's Tantor." Donald mentioned.

"And you know that..." Ragna wondered.

"My watch has a universal translator. Very handy." Donald bragged.

The elephant, now known as Tantor, lets out a friendly blow from his trunk. He was a rather large red elephant with two hairs sticking out from his head and a pair of white tusks.

Terk went to Donald and made a bunch of grunts, which he translated with his watch. _"Is he a friend of yours?"_ The watch said.

"Uh, yeah." Donald hesitated on his answer, but Ragna picked up on that and remembered what he wanted to ask him.

"Speaking of which, I wondered what happened to the others. You know, since they FELL OUT with us?" Ragna questioned.

"Hey, Sora grabbed the wheel! I was just making sure HE didn't break it!" Donald was quick to defend himself.

"Then tell me, why did he grab it? Because he wants to find his friends or YOU didn't want to look here at all!" Ragna recalled.

"I-I didn't want to waste time finding the king! We have a mission!" Donald shouted.

"Oh, a mission? Then how about this? What if the king WAS here? What if his friends ARE here?" Ragna brought up good points as he walks around the duck, which Donald only fumed at before he stopped in front of him.

"...What if he did that to you?" Ragna finished.

Donald couldn't look him in the eye at this point, only resorting to yelling gibberish and running off. Ragna sighed before walking over to pick up his sword. He puts it on his belt as Terk and Tantor tried to process what just happened.

"His heart's in the right place, I'll give him that." Ragna admitted as he looked at the two, "Just needs his priorities straight. Now, gotta make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Before he went after Donald, he then hears a gunshot that echoed through the trees from the direction that Donald was heading.

"That's a coincidence..." Ragna wondered before he finally headed after Donald with the animal pair following him.

* * *

Goofy finds himself sitting in the middle of a large nest filled with gorillas, covered in various fruits with the juices spilled out. He pretty much got the gist of what happened, he crashed into their home. Now the gorillas had their attention on him, and they were livid.

"...Uh, hello. I didn't mean to..." Goofy started, but to no avail.

The gorillas let out a fierce cry as Goofy sprinted through the group to a large tree, getting chased close behind before reaching a large tree branch. Getting to the end, he had nowhere to run as the group closed in. Once they were only a few feet away, they stopped. Goofy was confused by this until he sees what seems to be the leader of the group moving to the front.

The gorilla was practically the biggest of the group, with black fur that has a silver patch that covered his back. He had a gray round belly as he stared intently with yellow eyes that had mahogany red irises at Goofy, who was quickly pressing on his watch on his left wrist.

He set it to the universal translator, which did a quick scan before setting the language. "I come in peace!" Goofy quickly said to the watch, which translated to their language that was a set of grunts.

The silverback stopped in his tracks as he listened, only letting out a low growl in response. He moved closer to examine Goofy's arm before letting out a set of grunts.

 _"Who are you?"_ The watch translated.

Goofy moved his arm to talk to his watch, "My name is Goofy. I arrived here by accident when we crash landed."

The watch translated that as the gorilla listened. He then let out a deep breath before following with a set of grunts.

 _"There are others with you?"_ The watch translated.

"Yes, sir. I don't know where they are, though." Goofy answered.

The gorilla glared at him for a few slow seconds before two grunts left his mouth, _"Leave. Now."_ The watch translated.

Goofy nodded at that, quickly but carefully moving back down the branch past the other gorillas before going down to the ground. He didn't look back once as Goofy went deeper into the trees, stepping over large tree roots and going through bushes for a bit before hearing what sounded like someone struggling. Following the noise, he then sees a familiar face trying to get out of tangled vines.

"Terra! What are ya doing up there?" He calls out to him.

Terra stops struggling and turns to see Goofy, "Goofy! Glad to see ya. Trying to get free, mind helping?"

"Sure thing!" Goofy then summoned his shield, aiming it just right to throw at the remaining vines to cut him free.

Terra finds himself falling right after, quickly recovering to just barely landing on his feet.

"Thanks for that. I guess I'm the first you saw?" Terra wondered.

"Well, I ran into a bunch of gorillas earlier. Barely avoided a fight too." Goofy admitted.

"Guess we're in some sort of jungle. We better find the others before-" Terra was then interrupted as a loud blast was heard throughout the trees beyond.

The two were quiet for a moment before Goofy whispered, "What was that?"

"Best to check it out. May be the clue we need." Terra answered.

The two were a bit uncertain, but pressed on towards the destination.

 **AND DONE! All right, finished this chapter. So, I split up the group a bit differently this time and the meetings are different.**

 **Sora/Aqua: The two have a similar meeting as the original, fighting Sabor and meeting Tarzan.**

 **Ragna/Donald: Honestly, I paired them up since I wanna have Donald have someone to talk with if he should have some development. That and have Terk in a bit more prominent role along with adding Tantor.**

 **Terra/Goofy: Similar fighting styles came to mind when I did this, same with meeting the gorillas instead of Clayton. The gunshot was a last minute idea that I went with.**

 **And like I said, I wanna show Riku's side more to have a better view of his mindset.**

 **I would have put this chapter up earlier, but I remembered that I wanted to reboot my horrible Pokemon story a long time ago and I wanted to do that before this year's end. If you're interested, feel free to check it out. Anyways, thanks for reading and see ya next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 8: Son of Man

**Hello, fellow readers! Sliding down to it, what do we got?**

 **Spartastic 4: I sometimes take longer on chapters when I take a day off from writing. Wait, I misspelled? *double checks* Only one word was and that was intentional for comedic effect. Can't rush quality, man.**

 **Leafeon12: Thanks, man!**

 **All right, let's go!**

 **Chapter 8: Son of Man**

A portal appears in the Second District of Traverse Town, the wanderer with his guest walking out of it before closing.

The wanderer looks around as he sighs, "Kinda empty for a town."

Immediately after saying that, some Soldier and a couple of Fat Body heartless showed up to surround the two.

"That's more like it." The wanderer said with sarcasm, "So, any of ya want to kindly escort us?"

The heartless didn't respond to that, as he expected. "Now that's just rude."

"Look out!" He hears a young girl call out, looking towards the voice to see the girl leap down from a high place.

What Yuffie saw was heartless surrounding someone, but the person didn't look worried about it. Taking no chances, she jumped in to help.

"I appreciate the help, miss. But if you can do me a favor, mind watching over the boy instead?" The person sounded male under the hooded cloak, but Yuffie was intrigued at his offer.

"You mean you want to fight?" She asked.

"More like exercise." He carefully moved the unconscious boy from his shoulder to then hand him over.

Yuffie was honestly curious, so she grabbed the boy out of his hands before he stretched his arms and legs.

"I'll admit, these heartless are patient." The man pointed out before facing them.

Yuffie leaped back a safe distance and placed the boy against the wall as the cloaked man simply moved his hand as a taunt to provoke the creatures.

One of the soldiers jumped at him with a cyclone kick, only to get knocked out of the air with a swift left hook that made it slam into another soldier. Another one tried to jump him, only for a right haymaker to hit it dead on. The other heartless were caught off guard at this, which a fat body decided to charge at him belly first. The man placed his right foot first right before performing a lightning fast kick, sending the heartless flying a moment before landing on the ground, rolling until hitting one of the fountain bell plates to stop.

The heartless were shocked at this as the man placed his foot back down, smirking at what happened. He then channeled magic into his hand and raised it in the air before muttering, "Vanish..."

An array of lighting bolts rained down on the heartless, taking them out instantly with the points of impact being scorched as his hand went back down.

Yuffie was impressed at the man's display of power, as it reminded her of someone else. Being lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the man was on his way over.

"I don't think I caught your name, miss." The man recalled.

She snapped out of it and hopped up to her feet, "I am the great ninja, Yuffie!"

As she introduced herself, she had a better look at the cloaked man. His face was hidden under the hood with the cloak being dark brown in color and reaching his ankles, with what she could see earlier in the battle was black colored attire under it. She tried to see what his face looked like, but only saw violet eyes that emitted a faint glow.

"Nice to meet you, Yuffie. And yes I know, I have good looks." The cloaked man teased.

"Just curious!" She defended her analyzing stare before continuing, "You know, you fight like my friend Tifa. Have you met her?"

The man thought for a moment, "No, I don't think I have."

Yuffie had more questions now, but shifted the focus to the unconscious boy, "So, who is he?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I just found him like this and took him into my care."

"Has he woken up before?"

"Not yet. I brought him here to safety, since I have business elsewhere. I apologize about this, but may I place him in your care for now?"

Yuffie wasn't sure why he's trusting her, who is a stranger to him, but accepted his offer. "Sure. I'll tell him about you if he wakes up before you return."

"Thank you very much." The man simply said before walking away, Yuffie disappearing with the boy soon after.

Going to the alleyway nearby, he looks at his hand before clenching it once. "Glad to see my physical body is still good. Though, I am rusty with my skills..."

* * *

Cid just did the finishing touches on the Moogles' synthesis shop as he went out the door that lead to it, stretching out a bit before a Moogle floated out with him.

"Thank you for your help, kupo!" The Moogle said.

"No problem. Just don't overheat the furnace, it might backfire." Cid warned.

The Moogle nodded in understanding and went back inside the shop as Cid walks away, going down the steps before seeing Leon walking up the same steps.

Leon stopped in his tracks before speaking, "Hey. Yuffie wants us to meet at the Third District house."

"Any reason why?" Cid asked.

"Something about a new guy." Leon simply answered.

"Well, let's get going then." Cid said as the two went over to the Third District.

The two then headed over after Cid received his spear from the shop, just in case they run into heartless on the way. Thankfully, they took the short route to avoid any encounters before reaching the house. They entered to see Aerith and Yuffie tending to a young teen boy laying in the bed. When Leon asked who he was, Yuffie explained encountering a mysterious man who had him in his care. After a brief fight with heartless, he left the boy in her care before leaving.

As soon as she finished the story, they heard the boy stirred a bit before slightly opening his eyes. Having a better view of his appearance, they see that he had eye-length messy brown hair with an ahoge poking up at the top, green eyes, and pale skin. He wore a skintight long-sleeved black jacket with red and white trimmings, black pants with a red belt and a red cross emblem on the right thigh, black fingerless gloves with red guards, and red shoes with metal guards.

The boy sat up and looks around, seeing the group before speaking. "Uh, hello."

"Hello, sleepyhead." Yuffie greeted.

"Uh..." The boy rubbed his neck nervously, indicating his shyness before speaking again. "Who are you people?"

"I'm Aerith. This is Yuffie, Leon, and Cid." Aerith answered, gesturing to who's who.

"Nice to meet you. I'm..." The boy hesitated for a moment, which the others found odd at first before he finished. "Naoto. Naoto Kurogane."

* * *

"So, the way back to the camp is through these trees?" Aqua asked as the three were standing on a tree branch that oversees a bamboo thicket.

Tarzan nodded yes to her question right before leaping down to a gigantic tree branch that has many curves in a general direction, which Aqua and Sora jump on soon after to follow. The three slid on the tree, the wind blowing pass them before Aqua sees small creatures floating around them while going the same speed. Sora and Tarzan see them too soon after.

"Monsters?" Tarzan questioned.

"You can say that." Aqua vaguely answered, which Sora immediately shot down. "More heartless!"

The heartless all looked almost the same, the differences being their colors. Three red, three blue, and three yellow ones were what they saw before they went above the branches as the three entered through them. They were mainly small, but had to slice through the larger ones to avoid losing momentum. The large then had a hard right curve that they followed to a clearer path where they saw the heartless again.

"Eat this!" Sora conjures a Fire spell, launching a fireball to a red one. Unfortunately, there was no effect on it as it appears to absorb it.

"What?" Sora questioned.

"They absorb magic too?" Aqua remembered the beast she and Ragna fought in the Dark Realm for comparison.

The blue ones floated down to the path up ahead to try and intercept the three, firing icicle shards at them for their projectiles while keeping up the speed. Aqua put up a barrier to protect them from the ice as the yellow ones fired lightning bolts from above upon them. The barrier was strong enough to block those as well, with Tarzan being very curious to all of this.

Aqua let it down to fire a Blizzaga spell at the yellow ones, hitting two on impact that only did moderate damage surprisingly.

"The yellow ones are tougher." Aqua gathered from the attack, which the yellow ones quickly darted towards them in retaliation.

"And faster!" Sora pointed out.

Seeing the yellow threats, Tarzan suddenly retaliated with an attack of his own by swinging his spear around him wildly to land a hit. He does manage to hit one of them, taking it out by knocking them into one of the trees around them.

"Nice, Tarzan!" Sora complimented.

The blue ones then froze the tree branch they were on to mess up their balance, which actually did a bit. Sora and Aqua held on to each other while Tarzan had to endure it as his bare feet hit the ice.

"Gotta switch!" Aqua suggested.

Tarzan understood that and saw a similar sized branch further down, "Down!" He called out.

Sora and Aqua saw it too before Tarzan leaped for it, taking out one of the blues before landing. The other two jumped after him with Aqua firing a rapid succession of Firaga fireballs, taking the other two out before landing as well.

"Nice going!" Sora complimented.

The three then see the red ones try and launch fireballs from above, but Sora takes the helm as he tries out the Blizzard spell. Despite his accuracy, he managed to take out two of the five before having to jump over a branch in their path. The yellow ones were about to attack soon after, only to get cut off as the three jumped into a hollow tree trunk. The trunk soon let them out onto another large tree branch that made a sharp left turn and went uphill for a moment before going down into the bamboo thicket from earlier.

"We are here." Tarzan said as they reached the end of the branch. The three dropped down into a large clearing that had a camp set up, which includes a stack of crates, a table with teapots, and various other supplies that shouldn't be in a jungle.

"Do you think the others are here already?" Sora asked Aqua.

"If they aren't, it probably wouldn't be long to find this place." She answered as the two followed Tarzan into the large tent.

When they entered the tent, they see various furniture with a slide projector facing the side of the tent to show what it projects as a woman seems to look for something before Tarzan got her attention.

"Jane." He called out her name, which she turned around in excitement.

The woman had long dark brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin as she had eyeliner and lipstick on her face. She wore a faded white tank top and a long brown sarong that reaches to just above her ankles that only showed a majority of her right leg as it was held up by a knot tied on her right hip.

"Tarzan, you're back." She then sees his new friends, "Oh! And you are?"

"Hello-" Aqua was surprised at how fast the woman reacted when she spoke.

"You speak our language too! Fascinating!" The woman, named Jane, was in front of her in an instant before looking at Sora, "Do you speak too?"

"Yes." Sora simply said in response as he wasn't sure how to react to her.

"Tarzan! Where did you find them!? This is amazing!" Clearly, Jane was ecstatic about the newcomers.

"I met them, at tree house. Helped them chase away, Sabor." Tarzan briefly explained.

"Oh my. You aren't wounded, are you?" Jane asked the two.

"Don't worry, we were able to hold her off when Tarzan arrived." Aqua reassured.

"You're telling me, riding that leopard wasn't very fun." Sora said offhandedly with his hands behind his head.

"What's this about a leopard?" A male voice asked as he entered.

The man was a rather short and slender elderly man with a thick gray mustache with equally gray eyebrows and green eyes. He wore a yellow short sleeved collared shirt with a blue bowtie, orange shorts with a brown belt, and a pair of brown shoes with white socks.

"Daddy, glad you're here! We got another discovery!" Jane pulled her father further in the tent to his surprise.

"OK, Jane. OK! What is the new-" The father was stopped by Jane and turns him to Sora and Aqua, which he carefully walked up to them.

"My, my! What interesting attire they wear! And how spiky the young man's hair is!" The man gently poked his finger at the points of Sora's hair.

"Nice to meet you." Sora said, which the man was further intrigued as a result.

"And they speak our language!? Where did you come from? Not possibly the jungle like Tarzan here." The man was wondering at this point.

"If not here, then where could they have come from?" Jane wondered the same thing.

"Uh... before we answer that, can we ask a question of our own?" Aqua was being polite, not even fazed at the pair's excitement which confused Sora.

"Oh, sure! We'll answer to the best of our ability. Archimedes Q. Porter at your service, miss." The elderly man introduced himself.

"I'm Aqua and this is Sora." Aqua introduced themselves.

"Pleasure to meet you. If you don't mind, would you like a spot of tea?" Jane asked.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ragna and Donald are traveling through a remote part of the jungle that had very large trees with its roots spread out all over the place.

"Are we gonna talk or just stay silent the whole time?" Ragna called out to Donald who was further ahead.

After their conversation, Donald was strangely quiet as he climbed through the roots of the trees. Ragna sighs at that as he then hears a crack from behind, kinda forgetting that Terk and Tantor were following them. The young gorilla looked concerned for the two as the elephant was looking around for immediate danger.

"Don't worry about it. These things take time." Ragna wasn't sure as to why he was talking to the gorilla. Probably felt like he needed to... for whatever reason.

Donald climbed through the roots and came out to where a cliff overlooked a deep drop into more of the forest, along with a bamboo thicket far off in the distance.

"Trees, trees, and more trees!" He shouted in frustration, only to just plop on the ground to sit and rest.

Ragna caught up with Donald shortly after, just to sit next to him in silence as Terk climbed up above the roots to get a view of them.

The two sat in silence for quite a bit, just staring into the distance before Donald sighed.

"I would do the same."

Ragna looked at him after he muttered that, "Huh?"

Donald rolled his eyes before speaking up, "I said, I would do the same."

"When I first met Mickey, I didn't really think much of him since he was like me back then. Despite my view, everyone I met preferred him over me and it made me so envious of him. But, the more I got to know him, the more I saw why others do and decided instead to see him more of a rival."

"I can get that." Ragna agreed with, which caught Donald's attention. "You'd be surprised how strong a rivalry can be and how it grows into a mutual understanding between people."

Donald thought about that for a moment. As he was made the Court Magician, he always sparred with Mickey when he wanted to practice his magic. Even with his skills, the keyblade was able to let Mickey keep up with him fairly well. The fact that the Keyblade is able to let the wielder perform magic easier than even an expert mage reminds him of the envy he had and Sora wielding one brought back the memories.

 _"You listen to him."_ The watch sprung to life again as Terk came over from the roots.

 _"I was young when we had this hairless kid join our family. I didn't really paid much mind to him when he tried to come hang out with my friends, but over time he proved that he could keep up with the rest of us."_

Donald and Ragna listened to her story, but were curious to who she was talking about. "Hairless kid?" Donald was the first to ask.

 _"This kid Aunt Kala found. She called him Tarzan."_ Terk answered.

"I think that hairless ape is a human." Ragna clarified.

 _"Is what he is? I thought he was just some distant relative or something."_ Terk said offhandedly.

The three then heard a loud wind noise as it turned out that Tantor tried to go through the roots, only to get stuck a bit. The watch scanned him briefly before they heard another voice through the watch.

 _"Am I interrupting something?"_ The watch translated from the elephant.

"No, just finishing up." Ragna answered as he stood up to his feet, "Think it's about we go find the others."

Donald got to his feet right before they saw a cloud of smoke coming from the bamboo thicket, "Smoke?" He wondered.

"Yup, which means people." Ragna said before seeing a waterfall near them, going down to a large body of water. "And we have a shortcut."

"What are y-" Donald then got grabbed by the arm before the two jumped off towards the water.

Terk and Tantor were surprised at the stunt and decided to look for another way down.

* * *

Goofy and Terra walked through the last of the trees to reach a large clearing that lead to a large cliff with a very wide waterfall going into a massive lake next to them. The two were no doubt impressed at the sight before them as they saw elephants in the lake.

"Reminds me of back home." Terra mentioned as Goofy listened, "Me, Aqua and Ven usually go to the lake to practice our gliding skills. Lost count of how many times Ven fell off his glider before actually figuring it out."

"This Ven you mention, is he a friend of yours?" Goofy asked.

Terra chuckled a bit at that, "Honestly, I consider him more of a younger brother."

"Gawrsh, didn't he have a similar armor plate on his shoulder?" Goofy thought about it before, but remembered to actually asked about it.

Terra looked at him with curiosity, "Yeah, on his left shoulder."

"I remember him now! He came to the tower before to see Yen Sid and went off to help King Mickey." Goofy recalled.

"I wouldn't be surprised. He always wants to help others when he can." Terra smiled at that.

Despite the sounds of the water, they could make out a rustling in the bushes nearby and turns toward it with their guard up. The rustling continued for a moment more before a person walked out into the open.

It was a rather tall man with thinning brown hair and a pencil thin mustache, black eyes, and pale skin. He had a sort of dignified attire, which consisted of a yellow jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a red handkerchief wrapped around his neck, olive green pants and a pair of brown boots. He held a double barrel shotgun in his hands as he spots the two.

"How peculiar..." He muttered to himself.

Terra was the first to speak to him, "Hello there."

"And you speak like me? Who are you?" The hunter asked.

"Terra. And this is Goofy." Terra gestures to who's who to the hunter.

The hunter was stunned upon seeing Goofy, due to him not being human.

"He's a friend of mine." Terra clarified, but it didn't answer the hunter's current question.

"What is he?" The hunter whispered to Terra.

"I believe I am a dog, as you people would say. Ah-hyuck!" Goofy answered for him.

The hunter looked at him for a second before recovering, "Well, since we're exchanging names, mine is Clayton."

"Nice to meet you. I know this is a bit odd, but have you seen anyone else like us?" Terra asked.

"Hmm, if I had, I wouldn't be so surprised at you." Clayton clarified.

"I see." Terra folded his arms at that.

"However, the people at my camp may have. You can ask them if you would like." Clayton offered.

"That would be swell." Goofy accepted the offer.

The three then went off towards the camp, unaware of a certain leopard quietly following them.

 **AND DONE! Finally, I have finished this chapter. I wanted to release this before the new year, but had other stuff to take care of.**

 **Now, for those who are concerned of the slow pace, it doesn't mean this will be abandoned. This is my most successful series by far, which I am really grateful for.**

 **But, I wanted to celebrate the five years I spent writing on here with a special story that has the game that gave me the push to write in the first place, which is already up that's called:**

 **Resident Evil 4: Retold**

 **Not the most creative title, but I'm not joking when this is the game that not only made me a writer, but one I played so many times. If you're curious, the first chapter is already up for others to read.**

 **Anyways, in this chapter, Sora and Aqua joined Tarzan on a dangerous tree slide ride to the camp and meet Jane and her father. Donald and Ragna, along with Terk, share stories with each other. And finally, Terra and Goofy meets Clayton and are now on their way to the camp with an uninvited guest.**

 **What happens next? We shall see! See ya next chapter and I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!**


	10. April Update: Better Late than Never

**I LIVE! Well, yeah. Time flies by so fast, it's scary. What have I been doing?**

 **1\. Gaming!**

 **Due to the new releases from this year and some classics from my childhood, I was being busy having some simple fun. KH3 was... quite the experience. I have my problems with it, mainly the story and one or two with the gameplay. Other than that, it has its perks. But, I'm not here to give a review. I'm currently playing DMC5, which is really fun to play and adds more creativity to my arsenal. As for the classics, I was playing Resident Evil: Outbreak and War of the Monsters, two awesome games that I'm glad I got to play again after all these years.**

 **2\. Writing!**

 **Wait, how? There's no new chapter here! True. But, I realized that by sticking to one story, I restrict myself on expanding ideas I can't really do here without causing problems in the story itself. So, I went back to the series I actually started with and did a couple of stories there. The first two was Persona EG: The Burning Sun and Rainbow Rocks respectively that crosses over MLP EG and Persona. Currently, I switched to just MLP EG to do, get this, an original story! I know, crazy! I wanted to do something in that series in particular for quite awhile and improve my writing along the way. If you guys are curious, feel free to check them out! Also, how I'm writing my stories from now on, I put on my profile for your convenience.**

 **3\. Ideas!**

 **Combining the first two, playing games and writing/reading stories just add more to my cognitive world to use. Whether it's for my OCs, weapons, or crossover stories, I have a lot to put on paper. But hey, that's just how I roll.**

 **So, recap!**

 **KH3 was pretty good, despite my problems with it, but I have to head back to KH1 sometime to get back in the groove here.**

 **DMC5 is quite the experience, but I'll wait until I complete it to give a proper opinion.**

 **Resident Evil: Outbreak was one of the first games I ever played. Even after all these years, it still gives me chills.**

 **War of the Monsters is simple destruction with... monsters.**

 **Persona EG was a quick project that I may head back to in the future.**

 **Don't worry, I still have the next chapter in progress for Key of Light. I can't exactly say when, but it'll come out eventually. I'm not lying when I said this is still going. Anyways, that's what my agenda currently is, hope you understand. Until next time, see ya later!**


	11. The Truth

**OK, OK, OK!... Why do I do this to myself? All right, let me tell you guys something. I'm actually working on my personal review of Kingdom Hearts 3 that, I'm not lying, ACTUALLY turned me off from the story entirely. Like, I've tried to get back in, by force even, but I couldn't care anymore. I should elaborate, I mean the original canon or whatever is left now. I would LOVE to do basically a 'reboot', which makes sense since this is crossed over with Blazblue that does the multiverse timeline theory in its own series anyways.**

 **I hate that it took me this long to tell you guys, but I wasn't sure back then. I had myself switching on and off with the series, doing bits and bits of the chapter until it finally dawned on me. I've said it before, I want to do this series as it is my most popular so far, but it will most likely be in my own timeline of this crossover. And since I'm more into trying out original ideas, I want to give the 'reboot' a shot. But right now, this will be in limbo for the time being as my review will come out eventually to go into why I feel this way.**

 **Once again, I apologize for the unnecessary delay and next up will be my review of Kingdom Hearts 3. And before I go, here's my responses to the reviews from the last chapter:**

 **Spartastic 4: Still trying to figure that out, man! I'm gonna get it eventually.**

 **Leafeon12: Thanks. I'm glad you liked that part, as that was where I was stuck on for awhile.**

 **LightofChaos: You shall see, my friend. You shall see.**

 **ssjSega: Thank you! I know what the Blazblue characters are capable of, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't change things up to keep things interesting.**

 **AbsoluteSilverFT: That is an interesting point. But the way you worded it makes it sound like I DID choose Noel to replace Alice, when I only said that she WOULD be a badass princess. Celica, on the other hand, I can totally see her being one. Though, I'm sure Noel IS a person since the games say that she is an extension of who she is based on.**

 **Azure Legacy: Exactly! I now imagine Phil gesturing to Noel, "This kid's the genuine article."**


	12. Review and Verdict

**EDIT: Just letting you know, I have already seen the Remind DLC trailer for the game. However, the points I make still stand since this is towards the main game itself when it first came out. I ain't going easy on it because of some future update that would improve the game after the release. Just getting that straight before anyone tries telling me otherwise. However, the DLC is why the review is more delayed than before... so yeah. However, sections 1-3 are written before the DLC came out, so what I said in these sections may be inaccurate in some places due to the changes.**

 **Here we go, my review of Kingdom Hearts 3. Never thought I'd do a review of all things, but there's a first for everything. But, before I dive into the future of this series, I NEED to put out my opinion on Kingdom Hearts 3 and just the series in general as it does affect this story. It's... such a clusterfuck on what it tries to do and contradicts in order to 'succeed' with the plot. I'm gonna break this up into sections:**

 **1\. Gameplay (As this would likely be the longest section to do)**

 **2\. Worlds (What I think of the worlds and how they were integrated)**

 **3\. Story/Characters (This kinda goes in hand and hand, so I'll just put them together)**

 **4\. The DLC (Does it improve or diminish the experience?)**

 **5\. My opinion overall/ my experience with the series**

 **6\. What this means for Azure Keyblades**

 **With all that said, let's jump right in!**

* * *

 **Gameplay**

 **I'm starting out with this. I had fun playing this game. It's great to play a new KH game that returns to the original system. The additions that they put in this time however were... questionable, honestly.**

 **The two new additions in the series are Attraction Flow and Situation Commands, which seemed like nice ideas at first that now just annoy me. The way you get them are just dumb. AF are obtainable by attacking certain enemies in battle that have a crown marker on it. Question, why not just have it like the link system? You know, where you manually choose to use it instead of just a simple strike? And why are a bunch of commands random to get, like the grand magic spells? Why doesn't the tutorial tell you about scrolling through the triangle menu with L2?**

 **Here's my idea of what they should have done by bringing the** **dual menus from KH2 back with these options:**

 **Attack (Both menus with the Keyblade switching feature)**

 **Menu 1**

 **1\. Magic (Has the spells and all, along with the Grand Magic ones you earn near the end of the game that would cost a great deal of MP to use. More on this later.)**

 **2\. Items (Does what it does)**

 **3\. Forms (Where the Formchanges are where they function similar to Drive forms. Ex. Strike being the Valor equivalent and so on. More on this later.)**

 **Menu 2**

 **4\. Attractions (Where the Disney rides are)**

 **5\. Links (Where the Summons are, since you have everyone in your party this time around that I'll elaborate on later.)**

 **6\. Limits (Where the team attacks are)**

 **The situation commands are now just for the Keyblade transformations of the ones you have equipped at the time. Along with the proper damage scaling and time lengths, this can work on making each option viable and fun to use.**

 **For the extra inclusions from previous games, they combined the Drive forms and Command Styles into one with Formchanges. This I really like, as each keyblade (for the most part) have transformations that are tied to a specific form that have abilities of their own.**

 **Shotlocks return as super attacks and a new way to zoom around the field along with Flowmotion. Shotlocks are similar to Attraction Flow in terms of damage scaling, as in a lot of damage. Flowmotion was thankfully nerfed and is now just a more mobile way of attacking.**

 **For the shotlocks, I was thinking of using a normal one would do average damage and a fully charged one does more damage in exchange of the entire meter. The zooming option can be used no matter how much meter is left. Though, that's just me.**

 **1\. Magic got a huge buff in this game, which makes the mage route more viable, but pretty much breaks the game. I mean, have you seen Fire?**

 **Here's what I think would have worked too:**

 **Fire would still have the Surge form from KH2, does small damage with multi-hit properties. The grand magic version has meteors spinning around you that do pretty good damage.**

 **Water should have been this game's Reflect spell, surrounds you in a bubble shield that pops when it gets hit, doing splash damage around you. The grand magic version summons a bubble big enough to surround the party if they are in the vicinity and pops after getting damage, making a wave that pushes enemies away.**

 **Blizzard is fine on its own. The grand magic version adds an explosive blast on impact that freezes enemies in its radius.**

 **Thunder is all right, but should have its juggling properties from before. The grand magic version has a gravity effect that brings any enemies in the air to the ground.**

 **Aero is the game's Magnet spell, pulling in enemies while doing chip damage. The grand magic version brings in every surrounding enemy in the battle to the tornado, making it easier for the player to continue the assault.**

 **Along with Sora and Kairi learning some light spells and Riku having the dark variants, that would have been cool to have them more distinct from each other.**

 **3\. Forms would be this game's Drive Forms, along with growth abilities of their own.**

 **Now you may be thinking, what about Second and Ultimate Forms? Well, since they are directly tied to a keyblade, they don't count. Same with Rage Form, but it should work similar to Anti-form with a visible point counter you can keep track of. Also, since Sora is stronger than before, he could use these forms without taking out party members from the battle. All forms also level up the same way, defeating enemies while in use.**

 **Strike Form is focused on strong physical attacks with lower magic stats. The growth ability would be 'Omega Finale', allowing the player to use their finishers in the middle of combos. The upgraded versions increases the amount of finishers to use in a row. However, it would have an innate Combo Boost for the ground and air, so it wouldn't do as much damage as regular finishers.**

 **Guardian Form is a balanced offense between physical and magic stats with strong defensive properties. The growth ability would be 'Barrier', conjuring a shield around yourself to protect from damage and can retaliate by bursting it, briefly stunning surrounding enemies. The upgraded versions increases the amount of time it would stay out. In exchange, the barrier burst doesn't do damage and just has a stun effect.**

 **Element Form is focused on strong magical spells and has basic attacks changed to long range projectiles. The growth ability would be 'Aerial Flight', a combination of Doubleflight and Aerial Dodge respectively. Along with being a second jump, it will have a protective aura surround you that acts as super armor, allowing you to get past enemies safely. The upgrades wouldn't increase the distance or the duration of the aura, but makes the super armor stronger for that brief animation. It only protects you during the animation, but the strength of that attack hitting the aura changes. (Level 1 - Basic enemies, Max level - Bosses)**

 **Blitz Form is more focused on mobility/evasive abilities with a balanced boost to the other stats. The growth ability would be 'Glide', allowing you to... glide around in the air. The upgrades slows the descent speed and increases the flight speed, basically like KH2.**

 **4\. Party members work differently now since they can be in the group without switching them around. Though, while this is a great feature, the Keyblade Graveyard is where things change.**

 **From the save points, you can switch around your team members to either preferences or effectiveness. The members you can have are:**

 **Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Lea, Aqua, and Ventus. Later on, you receive Roxas, Xion, and Terra after their respective boss battles.**

 **OR my second suggestion, which will take more time and effort:**

 **They take the Days route and make every character playable with their own movesets. Yes, even the world-specific ones when you are in their world. (Ex: Baymax in San Fransokyo, Captain Jack Sparrow in the Caribbean, etc.)**

 **This feature is available from the beginning after the tutorial level, starting with the classic trio of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Then as the story progresses, you unlock more characters to use.**

 **Would this affect the story? No, as the player can only choose from the worlds you go to, not the set pieces separate from it. So, don't expect Riku to suddenly join Sora and the others to the worlds just because. (Though, that would be awesome.)**

 **5\. Keyblade Switching**

 **I like this feature, as now you can choose between three keyblades without having to activate a drive form to access them. It also implies that if Sora could, he can be strong enough to even tri-wield!**

 **However, this also confuses how the keychains work. In previous games, it makes sense that you weren't getting a whole new key, you're just getting a cool little keychain that you can switch out on your keyblade. Now, it's saying that they ARE whole keyblades instead of just a keychain.**

 **How it suppose to work is you can switch them in between combos and even do this to hold onto the Formchanges longer. I have seen some really cool ways that players can perform this stuff, so this feature has depth if you experiment around in battle. Also, I like the idea of upgrading them to make them stronger, so having your favorites on to the end is possible if you have the materials for them.**

 **6\. Attractions, Links and Situation Commands**

 **These are similar in that you summon them to use in battle. The Attraction Flow is a good idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Like I said, you attack a mark that shows up on an enemy to activate it. Why? Just make it like the links since some Attractions are better than others in many situations you run into. (Ex. Single tough enemy, activate Blaster Blaze. Surrounded by a group, use Mad Tea Cups. etc.)**

 **Links are good for summon substitutes from the previous games. I also like how they designed them this time, like Simba being the king of fire, Ariel being the princess of the sea, and Stitch being the electric alien. Some are more useful than others, but all are viable to use in battle. Though, I rarely use them personally.**

 **I know they wanted to promote the Situation Command system, but I only see it as a worse version of the Command Deck. Like I said, since the tutorial doesn't really tell you how to select between them, a first-time player will use the filler before the one they want. And since they don't know about making them shorter or even turning them off in the Options, they have to watch the cinematics before cancelling them or using them for extra damage. Trust me, I've done that until my second playthrough and it can be quite cluttered if you aren't paying attention.**

 **7\. Overall**

 **I can see what they wanted to do, expanding upon the ideas that KH2 did while bringing in the other games on top of adding something entirely new. But, like various action games, this can be overwhelming to newcomers. Once they figure it out, they can narrow down which options are better than others and either exploit them or avoid them to have a better challenge. The more options you give a player, the more time you have to invest to make sure they are balanced out with clear costs in exchange of using them.**

 **With how many options they put on the new Situation Command system, it can be pretty confusing in the midst of battle. I honestly wish that they would apply more sensible options than just trying to promote a new feature to high hell. I ain't saying that the gameplay isn't fun, but it can be repetitive if you just use the options that do the most damage or avoiding them to use the ones they want that will drag the battle out more.**

 **The combat itself, such as the animations, are nice and flashy to look at until you realize that they are still a bit slow. Not as slow as previous Osaka Team games, but it's still evident. Seriously, I had a lot of times that I know I attacked first, but the enemy says no and hits me first. Hell, even with the finishers, they don't really have invisibility frames to protect you from cheap shots, so don't be surprised if you actually die from that.**

 **Some moves I question, but that's just a minor issue. I know it's been said before, but it doesn't seem like gravity exists to these guys since they can easily do air combos without even jumping off the ground sometimes. Ground combos are there for a reason, guys! Add some weight to these characters!**

 **Either way, I like the gameplay, but it could have been much better in terms of execution and balance.**

* * *

 **Worlds**

 **This is where I slightly derive from the usual stuff you hear from others. Yes, these in the overall plot doesn't matter, even if they could have done that easily, but the original stories isn't that much better. All of them have to follow the 'guidelines' from previous games, so it's still just as confusing and stupid.**

 **The worlds in the game are a different selection this time around:**

 **Olympus,** **Twilight Town,** **Toy Box,** **Kingdom of Corona,** **Monstropolis,** **Arendelle,** **San Fransokyo,** **The Caribbean, and the** **Keyblade Graveyard.**

 **Now let's dive in with the details:**

 **1\. Olympus returns for the third installment, unlike other worlds from previous games. Instead of the coliseum, we finally get the city of Thebes and Mt. Olympus. Here's what confuses me about the world this time around. Previous games had their own little story that has already established certain aspects from the movie, such as the Titans, Hercules' appearance and his relationship with Meg. However now, it tells us that Hades' plan from the movie is now in effect, even though we have already faced AND defeated two of the titans.**

 **So, where were the other Titans? Did they stay in the prison while the Rock and Ice Titans managed to break out? Already, the story makes no sense as it shoots continuity in the face with what they already done before. NONE of Hades' plan was even brought up until now!**

 **Anyways, we show up in the city of Thebes as it is getting destroyed. Instead of the Cyclops or any of the Titans, it's the Heartless this time. I'm all right with this as the Heartless were established to destroy worlds. Also, they FINALLY SHOW US ACTUAL PEOPLE! After so many games, we are saving people from the Heartless without it being a barren world. The city part had some issues, such as the fire part (Seriously Sora, you have WATER magic now!), but it was done well enough.**

 **The journey up the mountain was all right, nothing much really happens aside from the heartless getting in the way every now and then. The fight against the Rock Titan was OK, just avoiding boulders and attacking his legs until landing the finisher. Like I said, this fight would have been more exciting and interesting if we HAVEN'T faced him beforehand.**

 **The Realm of the Gods was the highlight as it had some really nice visuals. Though, it would have been cooler if we met some of the other gods and helped them face off against the Heartless or something. We had people in Thebes, why not the other gods aside from Zeus and those Hercules freed from their chains? Anyways, the Titan boss fights were just meh as the lack of gravity makes it easy to hit them without the climbing and Flowmotion.**

 **2\. Twilight Town returns with an updated map of the Trans Common, The Woods, and the Mansion Entrance. This is the smallest world in the game right off the bat, which is very sad as there are some locations I wish we can go to like the Clock Tower, the Sandlot or even Sunset Town. Also sucks that Seifer and the others are just mentioned like the others, though his reason was a journey.**

 **We start at the Trans Common station, where we see a sudden Demon Swarm show up! OK! The fight itself was annoying, but I think this isn't the first time Heartless showed up in the actual world. Chain of Memories and Re: Coded don't count since they were empty reflections, so that only leaves Days as the only time this happens in the real world.**

 **As for the new additions, I like how different they made the place. There's a classic cartoon theater, the hole in the wall is patched up, and Scrooge McDuck has opened a new bistro with Remy as the chef. In order to get to the woods, you have to go through a sewer system to reach it and then the mansion. Also sucks that you only go in the mansion in cutscenes as we could have seen what it would like now.**

 **The story within the world is OK. It touches upon how they can bring back Roxas without having to sacrifice Sora again, but that's about it. The Twilight Trio has nice new designs and... that's pretty much it.**

 **3\. Toy Box is based on the Toy Story movies, which I really liked as a kid growing up. Seeing it in Kingdom Hearts was a nice new addition to the lineup of worlds in the series. The execution, on the other hand...**

 **We start out in Andy's room where we see the heartless has already arrived and meet up with Woody's gang. They do give an in-game reason as to why the entire gang isn't there, so I wasn't too bothered by their exclusions. Once they team up, we head on out to the new 'Galaxy Toys' place to find out what was going on.**

 **The stores within the place are nice and varied for exploration from a store of action figures to a video game store and even baby toys, along with having more than one floor to climb between.**

 **The world was mostly executed pretty well, b** **ut two things that bothers me was the twist and the ending... I'm not lying when I say that Re:Coded may have been made JUST so we have a reason as to why the toys are running around without the humans finding out. The latter is bittersweet, since it ends with them trapped until the end of the game.**

 **Other than that, the world itself was a nice addiction.**

 **4\. I love the movie Tangled, so I was super excited about the world being in Kingdom Hearts 3. However, there were some things I dislike about the execution.**

 **The visit starts out early enough with the trio meeting Flynn Rider while he is getting chased by Heartless, which replaces Maximus and the guards in their place. Sadly, the guards don't show up at all even when we get to the kingdom. We also don't get the criminals and the bandits, which is a shame since they were great characters. Replacing them are the heartless and nobodies lead by Marluxia, which is not even much of a factor in this world anyways since Chain of Memories doesn't exist in Sora's head.**

 **Once we get to the tower and recruit Rapunzel into the party with Flynn in tow, we travel through the forest to the kingdom. I like the various things we get on the journey, such as the water splash fight, escorting the birds, and sliding down a flower-filled meadow towards the riverside. Once we get to the kingdom itself, it was really cool to see the festival in full swing and even participate in the dance before the night of the lanterns.**

 **Then it kinda stumbles when we get to Mother Gothel 'saving' Rapunzel and Marluxia knocking out Sora somehow, before being woken up from Maximus licking him instead of splashing water from the river on his face or even a funny callback to KH1 with Donald casting Thunder on Sora. However, Maximus struggling a bit with carrying them all was a nice little scene that actually makes sense, which then becomes more impressive when he runs full speed ahead with all that weight.**

 **The boss fight of the world was interesting, a heartless tree beast that takes advantage of the surroundings with thorns and the tower itself. Once defeating it, we get the fake-out death scene with the tear of healing with Sora and gang in the background before cutting to the closing scene. One neat detail is that after completing the world, Rapunzel isn't in the party since she doesn't have her golden hair anymore.**

 **Overall, I like the world and some of its ideas, but it honestly could have benefited much more with following the movie beats and actually attempting to do the romantic plot between Rapunzel and Flynn since that is a big part of why the movie worked so well.**

 **5\. It's been awhile since I've seen Monsters Inc., but I thought it was a pretty good movie. The inclusion in Kingdom Hearts was unexpected, but turns out to be better than I expected.**

 **The visit takes place after the movie, which is a good point already since they have more freedom to integrate Sora and the others into the world without intruding. The way they integrated how the world runs on emotion with the Org. member being Vanitas was a really good decision.**

 **Not gonna lie, there isn't much about this world that I didn't like in terms of story. Traveling the world is pretty fun. The boss was eh, though.**

 **6\. Wow... just wow. What the hell happened here? Arendelle got shafted so hard! Seriously, what's the excuse!?**

 **Getting the positives out of the way, the fact that Marshmallow becomes your party member is pretty cool. The boss is also pretty cool, as well as the keychain. That's it, now the negatives.**

 **Now, I guess that the story was a masterpiece since they didn't want Sora and co. to interfere with ANY of it. You meet Elsa early on once, you meet Anna and co. once, with the latter being a mini-game. Then Hans shows up out of nowhere because movie plot, who doesn't even speak at all. After that, it just ends? The mere fact that this was done pisses me off. Like, if I was writing the series and I couldn't do it the way that I would like it to be, then I ain't adding it! Seriously, what was Disney thinking!?**

 **Also, Larxene is the villain for this world who somehow can control ice and just makes a straight-up labyrinth in seconds? And doesn't use ANY ice powers in her boss fights later? Yeah, they just placed a filler level in an already barren world!**

 **By the way, anyone else really liked how you traveled this world? It must be the most vertical world since we go up and down, up and down, UP and DOWN! No castle town, no enchanted forest, not even the trading post and sauna! Just snow and mountains with plenty of trees! We don't even explore the ice palace, only able to see the front entrance since it's just a display in this game!**

 **Also, we can get Rapunzel and Flynn, but not Anna and Kristoff with Sven? Not even a sled mini-game where we fight off the wolves? We can just get separated from them after the fight with Marshmallow, where we then team up with it to replace the two. After completing the world, we then have the option of having all three at once. It's not really hard. I can kinda understand why Elsa wouldn't be a party member since she would be the story objective as we travel with the others up the mountain.**

 **Also, did anyone else liked the recreation of 'Let it go'? It's kinda funny since Sora and co. are seeing a straight-up musical number from the outside. You know, what Disney movies are famous for? I honestly didn't care at that point.**

 **Again, this would have been much better if it followed the movie from an earlier point. Sora and co. shows up during Elsa's coronation where the story starts at Arendelle Castle, having them getting to know the characters as they are before the reveal of her ice powers. Once that happens, we join Anna on her journey to find her sister. Boom! Already a better story.**

 **In conclusion, worst world in the game, hands down.**

 **7\. As a big fan of Big Hero 6, I was very excited about the inclusion in Kingdom Hearts. Another world that takes place after the movie too, so that's a plus. Though, I do have my negatives about it.**

 **First things first, why are certain areas selective? The bridge and the garage are only accessed by certain methods, either by a battle portal or a save point. The city itself is awesome in terms of scale and exploration, but why just that one section? I would have loved to go to the district where Aunt Cass has her shop or even the warehouse where they met Yokai. Heck, even Fred's mansion would have been sick! But, that's beside the point.**

 **As for what we got, it's still quite serviceable. Keyblade Hero 3 enters the world as the team are fighting heartless, establishing a common goal for them right out the gate. After the fight on the bridge, the trio joins the six and goes into the city to dispose of the remaining threat while having some bonding time afterwards.**

 **Then, Dark Baymax! A bit of a waste, honestly. Like, it could have been a bit more emotional and a cool little one-on-one with Baymax 2 before the final fight, but that's just me.**

 **Overall, I really enjoyed my time here. Solid world.**

 **8\. I really liked the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but its inclusion in KH2 was weird. Real life and cartoons are always tricky to pull off when put together, especially in terms of aesthetics. This obviously stuck out like a sore thumb, but the execution of the story was OK. Second visit better than the first, honestly due to the Grim Reaper heartless.**

 **I vaguely remember the second movie, never bothered with the rest. From what I've heard, they aren't as good as the first since the story was focusing on the wrong character. With the world's return in KH3, visuals improved with the characters attempting to fit together this time instead of the weird combo. In terms of plot, since it took place during the third movie, I was lost and didn't care about it. The story it has with Sora and co. was strange, like the fake Jack Sparrow and the implied knowledge that Calypso had about the keyblade, was meh at best.**

 **Though, the gameplay is interesting. Sailing the sea on a ship while engaging battleships and exploring the surrounding islands for treasures and secrets? Sweet! I know about the parallels people make with other games, like Black Flag that I have also played, but I still enjoy what this feature has to offer.**

 **Overall, it's pretty good. Though personally, if they wanted to add in a similar world, Moana would be a great pick. Great movie, by the way.**

 **9\. Since this is where the main story actually happens, I'm saving my opinion on that for later.**

 **In terms of areas and exploration, this place was good to go through. We still get the graveyard from Birth by Sleep and get a new labyrinth later on, traversing through it to reach the various Seekers of Darkness to defeat before the final battle that takes place at Scala ad Caelum. Though, the Final World we briefly go to is very interesting. Both places are really cool in terms of visuals and concept.**

 **10\. Finish**

 **The worlds in this game are a good selection this time around. I wasn't as bothered about the fan favorite worlds being excluded (Agrabah, Halloween Town, Beast's Castle, Hollow Bastion, etc.) like other people, but it would have been nice to revisit. Still, I feel like most of these needed more time to work on in terms of story importance and content.**

* * *

 **Story/Characters**

 **Oh boy, here we go! So, this story... is so all over the place on what it's doing. It's like they realize that the Disney worlds were kinda insignificant in the later games that they tried to make them important with contrived reasons.**

 **First reason, the Power of Waking. They mention this throughout, but never elaborate on what it does. I know the name is kinda indicating on the ability, but why is it so important? Why can't we save Aqua without it? No answer came, so screw it.**

 **Second reason, the Seven New Hearts. Yep, the plot device from the first game gets a horrible revisit. Seriously, why is this a thing? I think they only mention it once as a backup plan, but there's no point. The Guardians of Light are gonna fight the Seekers of Darkness in the end no matter what!**

 **Once again, ideas that are introduced and have poor execution. And that's just the plot!**

 **The characters are why I kept going, so let's see what they had to offer in the game. I'm not going over every character, just the ones that I have something to say about.**

 **1\. Sora - There was an attempt. My god, there was an attempt on this happy-go-lucky kid to be more than just that. Hopefully, we get a more serious Sora in future installments due to what he endured. By the way, the 'Dumb Sora' gag can exit stage left and never come back. Addressing an actual writer's choice for a character's 'trait' and making it a joke instead of fixing it is worse than just ignoring it.**

 **2\. Riku - I've always been a sucker for the 'fallen hero' trope in stuff as it has a character know the evils of their previous actions and actually finding redemption to change for the better. My boy being a Keyblade Master and mastering the darkness, we get him losing my favorite keyblade and replacing it with another one. Yeah, that's nice. Some parts, he was strangely written like he's still distant or just not talking with people beforehand about important stuff, but it didn't ruin it that much. Plus, playing as him was really fun!**

 **3\. Kairi - OK, why is she still being the cheerleader? Keyblade, Princess of Light, Light Magic! Yet, she still IS BEING TREATED LIKE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS! WHY!? She can probably take on like half of the Seekers if she was given the chance to! BUT NO! Captured by Xemnas and KILLED by Xehanort, which didn't really matter AT ALL since she still comes back! All I ask is that she is given more attention in future games.**

 **4\. Xehanort - So, an old man that is letting curiosity be his main motivator to start another Keyblade War and uses darkness like it's his life source... was actually trying to give humanity a second chance to start again by getting rid of the Light's 'tyranny'? I would have been fine with this if that WAS his motivation from the BEGINNING! Plus, since when did humanity and the light ever came into the actual plot of the series!? Whatever, at least his saga was finally reached its conclusion.**

 **5\. Aqua - This woman endures hell for a whole decade and gets back just in time for war. She has EARNED her vacation time at this point! Still, she keeps going on sheer willpower (except when she doesn't), just to help her friends. She's one hell of a warrior!**

 **6\. Ventus - A decade long coma ain't gonna stop this kid! Or man? Either way, he fights on with my personal favorite fighting style and faces his shadow one last time.**

 **7\. Terra/Terranort - God damn, this man wasn't kidding about his vow! A vessel of pure willpower and is the 'guardian' heartless, he comes back from limbo to finish the fight. On the other side of the coin... ONE SCENE! ONE SCENE made me bang my head against the wall with Terranort being the center focus. You know the one, people! ALL of it before the Zettaflare, before the Lingering Will, and is up there with the Demon Storm later on, made me do this! YUP, that scene is why this review is EVEN a thing! And don't get me started on that rewind bullshit!**

 **8\. Roxas - Comes down from the sky after going ludicrous speed through the cosmos with Oblivion and Oathkeeper in both hands to kick some serious ass, this boy is a force of nature!**

 **9\. Xion - Comes out of nowhere with barely an explanation as to how she kept her appearance without being norted and is just suddenly remembered, I don't really know how to process that. Nice to see her again, though.**

 **10\. Axel/Lea - Always a highlight, our fiery assassin is determined to fight to protect and be the self-aware one of the cast.**

 **11\. Saix/Isa - Has a rather meh motivation since it was never really established beforehand, his interactions with Lea makes him stand out a bit more from the other Seekers. Personal opinion, my favorite epilogue outfit. I was legit surprised upon seeing it!**

 **12\. Master Yen Sid - I don't care if you're a former Keyblade Master, I will kick your ass if you say that Sora isn't a Master at this point! His back may as well be BROKEN from carrying the final battle since everyone else got their ASS KICKED! And do we need to mention his previous accomplishments!?**

 **13\. Donald/Goofy - I like them. Their interactions with Sora is mostly nice to watch. Though, I would scold them for those moments that they even suggest that Sora CAN'T fight by himself. Again, do I need to mention what this boy can do!?**

 **14\. Final Fantasy Cast - Where they at? I kinda understand the Hollow Bastion gang, but what about Cloud? Tifa? Sephiroth? Auron? Hell, Zack even? Not even for post game content? So much for a crossover series.**

 **Everyone else was fine. Either I wasn't bothered by them or just forgot, since I haven't played the game all the way through in awhile.**

 **Overall, the story was what I expected, attempts to make the new stuff important and completely forgets them by the end. This 'finale' was made to set up the next saga, which shouldn't be your main reason when you write an overarching story.**

 **To elaborate on THAT scene, I never really liked curbstomp battles, especially if it was done wrong. The way I see these types of 'fights', they have to be short and sweet to establish an immediate threat to the heroes with a motive that makes sense. Here, all of those are tossed in the trash! Why fight them by yourself!? Why kill them when you need them for your goals!? Why are the heroes suddenly not able to fight against this guy!? WHY DO I NEED TO SEE IT MORE THAN ONCE!?**

 **...OK, OK. Enough about that. Story is convoluted, let's move on.**

* * *

 **The DLC (Remind)**

 **Well, didn't expect them to actually do DLC this early. All right, what does it have to offer and does it improve the game?**

 **1\. Gameplay - Wow, they actually listened! While the base combat still has the problems mentioned, they did try to balance it out with new abilities and additions to make it flow better. Some totally not from KH2, but I ain't complaining at all! The new forms are awesome to use and the boss fights with OTHER playable characters were a joy to play! The data battles were challenging and the super boss was quite the battle!**

 **2\. Story - Pinnacle Nomura, ladies and gentlemen! Writes a scene, sends it out, writes to elaborate on what's actually happening later. However, we didn't wait years just to get an answer that leaves even more questions. Although, I didn't have many questions since he shows us the other side of the battle.**

 **Lingering Will's fate (which got a legit 'oh shit' out of me), the Guardians' own fight against the empty Seeker Armors, Mickey's shining moment, Kairi's return, the expanded Scala ad Caelum, more on Xehanort's backstory, the plans of the Seekers, Riku's plan to find Sora with the returning Final Fantasy cast, and Sora meeting Yozora.**

 **So, with all these added into the game, what does my opinion on the game come to?**

* * *

 **Overall Opinion**

 **My experience with the series is kinda complicated. I got into the series thanks to one of my old friends and my love for Disney movies, as my love for video games was still growing and my interest for crossovers was getting up there. The first game was fun to play and simple to understand, though it ain't perfect. Characters and worlds are hit or miss, certain story points are dumb, and some parts are harder than others.**

 **I was among those that skipped Chain of Memories and jumped into KH2 confused as hell. Though at the time, I wasn't too focused on the story element, so the gameplay more than made up for it. This is when I officially got into the series at that point.**

 **Long story short, I mainly kept up in terms of lore and theories until the re-releases came out. Both PS3 and PS4 collections since I enjoyed them back then and didn't have a PS4 for a long time while my PS3 was my main system until then. Got KH3 around launch window and here we are.**

 **KH3 is a game that was one of the many video game fables among DMC5 and Half-Life 3, all those years having us raise our expectations to the point that seemed impossible to reach. Where DMC5 succeeds, KH3 falls short in many areas. Still, DLC or not, it's still a good game that is fun to play once you know the mechanics and do some experimentation.**

 **So, there is my whole review on Kingdom Hearts 3. The ups, downs and all arounds may annoy me at times, but that annoyance is usually overridden with sheer curiosity as I will still follow the future of the series.**

 **Now, for those who are mainly curious about the crossover story, here is your answer!**

* * *

 **Azure Keyblades: Do or Don't?**

 **Considering that this series is the reason why I'm serious about my writing now, it's the former.**

 **Seriously, I would be a fool not to do this series. However, there are gonna be some major differences:**

 **1\. This is NOT gonna follow the canon story anymore! Those days are behind me now, so sorry to those who expect that to happen.**

 **2\. The established rules of Kingdom Hearts, such as the keyblades and enemies, are gonna be reworked. Don't worry, the personalities of the characters are gonna stay close to how they were portrayed in their original games. At least, as close as I can write them.**

 **3\. Speaking of characters, I will be only including those that will have importance in the overall plot. Disney and Final Fantasy characters are staying since this series was originally a crossover between the two, though those may change as well.**

 **However, this may not happen for some time since I do have other stories as my main priority right now. And again, I seriously apologize for the long wait, but I wanted to wait for the DLC to give you guys a full review.**

 **With ALL of that said, thank you all for your patience and thanks for reading! I'll see you guys later!**


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